Home Is When I'm Alone With You
by annaLebeau
Summary: They have both been on the bad side with The Brotherhood and Sinister ….. and they have both fought on the good side with the X-men. But, there's a thin line between good an' evil. Fed up with the lack of trust their teammates have been having in them lately, Rogue and Gambit leave the X-men to do their own thing. Iceman has to choose between his friends and the X-men.
1. Chapter 1

So, I've heard that Marvel thinks the Remy /Rogue relationship has gone stale ….this is my fanfic for all my fellow ROMY fans who disagree! …A dark, sexy, fun, and adventurous ROMY fan fic inspired by the song "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes...I do not own Marvel or its characters...blah blah, y'all know the drill.

-  
They've both been on the bad side with The Brotherhood and Sinister ….. and they've both fought on the good side with the X-men….But, there's a thin line between good an' evil….

Fed up with the lack of trust their teammates have been having in them lately, Rogue and Gambit leave the X-men and do their own thing.

* * *

"Rogue,…please say something…." Storm said softly. Rogue gave her a blank look that Storm tried in vain to decipher.

Nobody on the team had ever seen Rogue like this before. This Southern Belle was never afraid to sass, swear, or punch somebody when she got angry. Since everything went down, she just stayed silent.

"Storm…" Remy shook his head , "Please, don't…."

"I was only following orders." Storm whispered and lowered her head.

The whisper was still audible enough for Remy to hear. He leaned over to Storm ."Yeah, you may have followed orders…but you failed her as a friend."

Rogue fought back her emotions and started walking over to Remy's motorcycle. She was stopped dead in her tracks by Cyclops.

"Rogue, you can't leave. You are in the middle of a mission…."

Remy jumped in between them. "You get any closer over here, an' I swear I'll break dat other arm."

Cyclops looked down on the sling on his right arm…...the arm that Remy had broken a few days earlier. He retreated his last few steps, but continued to speak, "Come on , Rogue. Is Gambit doing all the talking for you now?"

Rogue clenched her fists and looked at her teammates standing in the garage. They all waited for some sort of reply from her. She had nothing to say to them.

Emma put her hand on Scott's shoulder and shook her head. She always had a hard time reading Rogue's thoughts, but she could sense her feelings. She could sense a wild mix of emotions of anger, hurt, and disappointment rumbling inside of Rogue.

" Stay out of my head. " Rogue muttered under her breath. She reached her gloved hand out towards Remy. He could feel all her tension in her palms as he helped her mount the back of his motorcycle.

Cyclops became infuriated with her defiance, "You can't leave! You have to complete the-"

" Screw your mission!" Gambit growled as he mounted his bike. "You only give a fuck about her when it's convenient for you."

The professor reached towards Cyclops ,"Scott, stop. Let them go."

Remy started his motorcycle and the two rode off with lightning speed without looking back.

Storm leaned over to the professor, "Gambit told me they are just leaving for a while…They said they might come back…"

The professor looked up at Storm's sad face.

"..But I don't think that's true…. They are not coming back, are they….?"

The professor had no reply.

As they rode off, Rogue held tightly onto her boyfriend's waist….tighter than usual. They sped along for a good hour or two before Remy pulled over. He could always sense when Rogue needed him. On top of all the noise and vibrations of his motorcycle, he could feel her body shaking around his. His premonition proved to be true when he saw the tears streaming down her face. He pulled her off the bike, and she collapsed in his arms, sobbing loudly.

His embrace was the warmest she had ever felt. He kissed her on the top of her head and held her tightly towards his chest.

" Ah- Ah can't believe I had to leave another home again…" She cried into his shoulder.

"This time is different, ma cherie." He whispered in her ear. " This time you are not alone. I'm here wit' you. " He pulled back a little but and cupped her face between his hands. Through all those tears, he managed to make her smile. "Dis is a new life. Our new life together…. "

Rogue's smile grew bigger and she wiped her tears away. She started making her way back over to the motorcycle.

"You sure you don' need some more time to let it all out?" Remy asked , "You been bottlin' it up."

Rogue smiled again. " Maybe a little later….Ah'd rather we get started on that new life together."

Remy smiled back at her and mounted his bike. He looked over his shoulder at her before he started it again.

She wrapped her arms around him and playfully started singing parts of the lyrics from their song.  
"Man oh man, you're my best friend. I'll scream it into the nothingness…"

Remy laughed, kissed her on the top of her head, and threw some lyrics back at her . "Girl, I never loved one like you." He started the bike.

Knowing how much he loved her practicing her French, Rogue leaned into his ear. "Je t'aime plus que tous.*"  
(* "I love you more than anything else * )

With that, they took off again on the open road, heading west.


	2. Chapter 2

"You said I could take you away anywhere." Remy smiled slyly across the table at Rogue.

"Hmmmm...Ah've noticed we're not heading south…" Rogue looked at him. " So, I'm guessing we're not goin' to the Big Easy."

"No, the situation in N'awlins is a little hot right now…." He noticed the slightly disappointed look on Rogue's face. He knew that she fell in love with that town the last few times he took her down there. It was another reason he had to love his Southern Goddess. The fact that she appreciated the soul of his home town so much.  
Though his exile was long over, it was still hard for him to stay in New Orleans for too long. He could only relax for a few days before various family members would start trying to involve him in Thieves Guild business.

"Ah know, baby. It's hard for you…." Rogue nodded. " It's just that …your family always made me feel  
like Ah was one of their own. Ah nevah felt so much like Ah belonged somewhere before…"

Remy smiled to himself. He took a sip of his coffee. Sometimes he did miss that crazy Thieves Guild.  
"Don' worry, ma cherie, de Big Easy is still on de agenda. We'll still go visit. I'm takin' you somewhere else ….where we won't be so interrupted all the time by my family."

"Interrupted?" Rogue smirked and rubbed her foot against his under the table. She picked up her spoon of ice cream and put it inside her mouth seductively, staring right into his sexy red-on-black eyes. "You look like you wan' some o' this.."

"You know I do." Remy nodded. Rogue scooped up some more ice cream and leaned over the table. She playfully fed him. His sexy stare sent a shiver inside her. The heat between them rose quickly enough to make their waitress jump back a bit. She placed their check on the table and walked off shyly.

Rogue leaned back and blushed slightly at her silliness. Remy had a way of getting her to forget where she was sometimes. Getting carried away was very easy with him. They were in a small mom-and-pop diner…somewhere in Ohio….at noon…..on a Saturday…with lots of families sitting around.

"Why don' we get back on dat road an' finish our dessert once we get to our new home?" Remy slapped a generous amount of cash down on the table. He put his hand on Rogue's lower back and led her out of the diner.

Rogue's grin got bigger with each mile they got closer to the artful Chicago skyline in the horizon.

Fond memories of her brief stay in the city when she was younger started rushing through her head.  
As Remy merged onto Lake Shore Drive, Rogue gushed at the beauty around her. To the right of them,  
Lake Michigan crashed its waves onto the beaches and rocks. To their left, beautiful skyscrapers hovered over them.

She remembered zooming up and down this highway just after she had gotten her license and  
Mystique had let her take her car out for the first time. They didn't stay long in Chicago. It was a short mission, but she always wanted to come back one day, and take another drive up the beautiful highway that divides the beaches from the bustles of downtown.

Remy stopped briefly at a stop light. He pulled off his helmet quickly to flash her a quick smile and bring her attention to the music happening inside Grant Park.

"Oh mah! Is it Blues Fest this weekend?" Rogue squeeled. Remy nodded. They sped up north on Lake Shore Drive until it ended and turned into Sheridan road.

Rogue was unfamiliar with this part of town. The neighborhood had a resort-type feel. She gazed at the high rise buildings to the right of her. They looked like they used to be hotels, but were clearly apartments now. She could still see the beach peaking out between each building. The thought of Remy getting them an apartment in one of those buildings overlooking the beach made her heart pound faster with excitement. She had no idea that Mr. LeBeau had something much better planned.

He started slowing down the bike next to one of the beach entrances. Rogue looked on with curiosity as Remy pulled in closer to a giant, fenced-in area. A tall house peaked over it. The gate opened and they slowly rode into the driveway.

Remy shut the engine off and turned to look at Rogue, who was stunned at the site in front of her.

"Well, what do you think, chere?" He asked. Rogue was too shocked to answer. He walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

This reaction was actually pretty typical from her whenever she received presents from him. She'd be speechless, and then she'd always demand that he take back whatever opulent gift he had gotten her, for fear of how much he had spent on her. He'd always refuse to do so, of course.

"Well, should I take dis back?" He whispered into her ear.

Rogue was still silent. The extremely tall Neo-Victorian style home in front of her was gorgeous.

"Is that - a wrap- around…. ?" Rogue managed her first words.

"A wrap-around porch? Oui. I know how you love those." Remy led her to the back of the house. The backyard wasn't too large, but it managed to have amazing amenities. Rogue noticed the hot tub just next to the back door.

"An' that's a pool…?" She gasped.

"Yes, my Sirene.* (mermaid*) I know how much you loved to swim back at the mansion…."

It wasn't as large as the X-mansion's pool, but hell, that one didn't overlook the lakefront. Rogue wanted to jump into right then.

"We don't have access to the beach from here- but dere's an entrance on the other side of our fence" Remy sounded slightly apologetic.

"Oh, Ah think Ah'll live…"Rogue let out a small laugh.

"All dis was gonna be your Birthday present." Remy turned her around to face him. " I wanted us to have a place to come to alone….but given de circumstances, I t'ink you'll forgive me for spoiling the surprise early."

Rogue jumped into his arms and a small tear of joy leaked out from one of her eyes. "Oh, Remy….Remy..Remy"  
She couldn't think of anything to say but his name.

"I guess I got it right, huh? 'Cause you usually only repeat my name like that when I make you….happy…"

Rogue shook her head and playfully pushed him away. He laughed and led her into the house. Rogue barely paid attention to the tour he was giving her. She wasted no time once they entered their upstairs bedroom. Just as Remy turned around, to read Rogue's reaction to the breathtaking room, she was already half naked.. She threw her top at him. She then jumped onto the bed.

"You are just too good to me." She quickly peeled off the rest of her clothing and threw them at her Cajun. Remy was still stunned by how fast she disrobed.

Though Rogue wasn't a virgin when they first met, Remy was the first man to make love to her. She loved him so much for that. He was the first man who actually took the time to experiment with ways to make her climax. …this was a tough challenge, given the fact that they couldn't have skin to skin contact without her knocking him out.  
Unlike a lot of the guys she had been with when she was younger, Remy wasn't the man who would just hike up her skirt, unzip his pants, slip on a condom and just have his fun. No, Remy spent a lot of time pleasing her first.

Rogue smiled seductively as Remy joined her on the bed. She longed to kiss him desperately.  
She got as close to his ear as she could and her sexy southern drawl ran a shiver through Remy.  
"Tonight, you can do anything you want to me…."

"I want to make you scream…" He whispered in her ear, "Now, how you'd like that to happen is lady's choice…"  
He opened the drawer in the nightstand and invited Rogue to peer inside . She got hot just looking at all the toys and gloves. It didn't matter which she chose.

They both knew that now that they were alone, Rogue was free to scream as loud as she wanted , without worrying about any teammates hearing her. Having Rogue scream louder than she had ever before was a challenge Remy took very seriously.


	3. Chapter 3

'Well, leaving him to die in Antarctica was probably the start of it….." Bobby Drake gave Cyclops a matter-of-fact look. "He would have been dead, if Rogue hadn't stayed behind with him and convinced you all to come back for them."

"Robert, I do not need this from you right now. Stay out of this." Cyclops glared at him.

"What Bobby is trying to point out is that we did judge him harshly. " Storm tried to calm Cyclops down. "Rogue told me how he was tricked by Sinister. She saw it in his memories when they kissed. He led that massacre unknowingly…..but he also saved a lot of the Morlocks.."

" That is not the point. The point is that somebody is out to kill me. " Cyclops tried to cross his arms across his chest, but was painfully reminded that he couldn't with his broken arm.

"Yeah, and then you all believed that time traveler Bishop over Gambit about that whole assassination thing." Bobby continued to drag the past out . " That definitely pissed him off."

"You weren't even here for that!" Cyclops exclaimed.

"Rogue filled me in on how she had to save Gambit from that one too. " Bobby continued to press Cyclops, " So, that's Gambit….where should I start with Wolverine?"

"Why exactly are you trying to get on my nerves?" Cyclops grew more annoyed.

"Because you are acting like the idea of somebody having a motive to kill you is unfathomable. " Bobby stepped in closer to Cyclops. " You piss off people all the time and then you get paranoid about them. Everybody you are suspecting….. Gambit, Wolverine," Bobby paused, " Me…? Any of us could have killed you already at any time under this roof."

Cyclops stormed out of the room in frustration.

"Storm?" Bobby stepped in towards her , "Can you please fill me in? I leave for a few weeks and everything is so different around here. Rogue , Gambit….Wolverine…? Why did they all leave?"

" Robert, you are right. It has been intense around here. " Storm began to explain, "Wolverine left on his own first. Rogue was close to dying."

"Dying?" Bobby raised his eyebrow.

" Thankfully, Wolverine let her absorb his mutant healing power. When they both woke up, she told him about some of his memories she saw. In typical Wolverine fashion, he got out of here quickly to go chase a lead she gave him about his past. We think he is back in Canada.."

Bobby was still very confused , "Ok, what happened to Rogue?"

"We thought…some of us thought….Rather, we had orders to follow the belief that… she had defected back to the Brotherhood."

"What? " Bobby almost laughed, " You all thought Rogue was back with those dorks?"

"It certainly seemed so at the time," Storm looked a the floor. "I had my doubts…but I didn't quite believe it..  
Everybody has a dark past and is capable of anything I suppose. "

"Sounds like you believed it, Storm?" Bobby asked, but knew his sentence was more of a statement than a question.

* * *

Rogue ran her gloved fingers along her sleeping cajun's bicep. Her body was covered in a nude-colored mesh body stocking and matching gloves. It was hot to wear sometimes, but she knew Remy thought she looked incredibly sexy in it. The slight discomfort was worth it to get that look out of his eyes. It also gave them the freedom to be completely naked with each other, and she loved the way he kissed her body through it.

She tightened herself around his body, and ran her fingers along his lips. She would give anything to wake him up with a passionate kiss. She wanted to taste him so badly. She longed to run her nails across his back while he made love to her.

" Should we practice?" Remy mumbled as he woke up. Rogue nodded. He started to slip her glove off.

She used to be extremely nervous when they first practiced. Since their last few weeks alone together, all her fear has been melting away. It was another reason she loved Remy so much. He had a way of showing her how to conquer her own fears.

"These last few weeks have been so wonderful." She sighed and relaxed her head down onto the sheet against his chest.

Remy replied with a kiss on her head. "You relaxed?" He asked.

Rogue took a deep breath , "mmmm hhhmmm."

Remy began to slowly trail his fingertips along her arm. When her powers did not activate, he slowly began to touch her arm more firmly. Rogue's heart began to race and she counted the seconds. She was saddened when she felt her powers push his hand away.

"How many was dat?"

"11 seconds"

"Wow, dat's our longest time so far"

Rogue smiled and kissed his chest through the sheet. They started this ritual a few months ago…

After one of their famous fights that used to plague the beginning of their relationship, Remy had stormed away from her. They used to have plenty of these moments: Remy showered her with attention and kindness… and when he tried to get close to her, she pushed him away.

However, on that one particular night, she realized that Remy wasn't angry at her. He was hurt. She was hurting him by not trusting him with her feelings. She found him in his bedroom and she asked him to just listen. She wanted him to know that none of it was his fault.

All that pushing away was her own stupid fear of being close to somebody. She let him know he was the sweetest person she had ever met and sometimes she was scared he was too good to be true. The night continued with her opening up to him about all her past relationships.

During her time with the Brotherhood, she dated a series of terrible men. The cycle didn't stop until her therapist  
pointed out to her why- She was attracted to men who treated her badly like her father did. She was not over why her father never loved her, and she searched for that love in other men. Rogue's eyes had opened to her situation- and she also felt guilty for the therapist. She would often lie about her depression symptoms so she could get medication , that she was giving one of her loser boyfriends…..

She then confided in Remy with one of her deepest secrets. It involved the details of how her powers first manifested.

She was very naïve about her first boyfriend, Cody . He'd come by her house and help her sneak out of her bedroom window. She loved how he would hug her bruised body after her father had beaten her. She loved how he would promise to take her away from the terrible hell she was living in. ..but she was so young. Cody was older than her, and he would tell her anything she wanted to hear.

They shared their first kiss out in the farm field behind his parents' house. It felt like heaven to her. She thought he cared about her. Then he started putting his hands up her skirt. She led them away, but he came back with more force. She like him so much, but she was only 13 years old. This was all too fast for her. He tore her shirt and tried to rip her bra. She begged him to stop and shoved him off, but he then pinned her down. She could feel his hard groin against her leg. He ignored all her screams and slid her underwear off. She fought all she could, but he was much stronger than her. She felt his cold fingers slip inside her. Panic rushed through her blood. He then leaned in for another hard kiss... and that's when her powers kicked in.

What hurt afterwards was how her nobody in her town cared that she had been sexually assaulted...they only cared that she was a mutant and she had nearly killed a young, promising boy.

Rogue didn't know why she told Remy this story. It was nice to finally let it out. She vowed to him that she was not going to revert to her past behavior. She wasn't going to run away from a man who was good for her.  
Remy held her in his arms that night, and never really let go.

A few weeks after that, while sleeping next to each other, he learned that her powers were delayed while she slept. He could rub her arm for a few seconds before they kicked in. He wondered if her powers could be repressed if she was very relaxed. Then another idea came into his head….Her powers manifested because of a negative emotional and sexual trauma. What if she had a very positive and loving sexual experience? Could her powers get under control?

So the ritual started. They would lie back on her bed and he'd try to slowly touch her. It took a lot of coaxing and relaxing her. He'd have her focus on taking deep breaths and thinking positively.

Her powers had a tendency to pull anybody she was touching inwards towards her. Rogue thought the idea of touching Remy was hopeless until one day when she felt the control to push away his hand just before her powers kicked in. Since then, their skin to skin contact timing rose slowly.

It was tricky. Rogue had to be extremely relaxed. Sometimes , when Remy was successful in getting a long touch, Rogue would get excited and her powers would kick in.

"How many seconds do we need for a kiss?" Rogue asked Remy after he successfully massaged her forearm for 15 seconds.

Remy rolled Rogue over on the bed so that she was pinned under him. His gaze was piercing and full of passion.

"Listen to me, cherie. I promise dat you an' I are gonna break dis hold your powers got on you. I jus' need you to trust me."

" Ah do trust you." She stared into his eyes. Her heart began racing at the small hope that his lips could be pressed against hers in a few moments. "You've never broken a promise to me before." She pulled her body upwards towards him.

"No, no, " He pushed her body down. He could feel her heart pounding a mile a minute. "Relax. Take a deep breath."

Rogue pouted slightly. The anticipation was killing her.

"Let me lead, ma chere. Let me kiss you." Remy's commanding tone was so sexy it made her skin tingle. Remy leaned in towards her ear, "I love you, Anna. You and only you." He moved his lips on top of hers.

Rogue felt like she was melting. His stubble playfully scratched her chin. His lips were hot. She opened her mouth and he slipped his tongue in. ..then she felt her powers kicking in, and she pushed him back.

'How many seconds was that?" He asked

Rogue gave him a giddy smile, " I lost track…. Can we practice that again, baby?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Is that fear that I sense from you, Xavier?" Magneto smiled smugly.

The Professor turned away from the computer screen, where he was having a video- chat  
with one of his old friends, and ironically, one of the X-men's worst foes.

"Rogue was always a wild card..." Magneto continued, " She was always so easily  
manipulated into being on either side of the law."

"That is not fair to say about her, Eric," The Professor responded, still looking away from  
the computer screen.

Magneto let out a low laugh, "You thought you could help her, but you lost her.  
You lost your little sheep."

The Professor raised his eyebrow. Reading Magneto's mind was impossible due to  
the way he blocked it. However, Charles could sometimes still read his actions like a book.  
Throughout the years, many X-men left and returned to the mansion. Magneto would laugh a bit  
about it, as a way to point out The Professor 's failure. All this extra teasing about Rogue, however ,  
was very suspicious.

Was he trying to have her return to the Brotherhood?…Or was this about the X-men  
being weakened to an attack?

Many of the X-men's foes would follow the same plan in battles: Attack Rogue first. If one  
defeats the strongest X-man first, then the rest of the team would be much easier to get to.

"No, no…do not even try." Magneto warned The Professor as he felt him trying to read his mind.  
He looked a bit nervous. " Until next time, Charles. " With that, the video-chat window closed.

The Professor looked out his window and his thoughts went back to the day Rogue and Gambit left.

Gambit stood by the door of his office. Arms folded, he looked like a nightclub bouncer. Except  
That instead of kicking people out for not having a proper I.D. to get in, he was keeping his  
nosy teammates from eavesdropping.

Cyclops started banging on the door from the other side with his good arm. "I want you out  
of this mansion right now, Gambit! You hear that? YOU ARE OFF THE TEAM!"

The Professor ignored all the noise outside the door and focused on Rogue, who was sitting in a chair across from  
his desk.

"Professor, Ah really appreciate everything you ever done for me. Ah really want you to know that. " She looked up into his face with almost the same sad look she had the first time she ever came up to him. "You took me in at  
a very desperate time in mah life. …even though this entire team hated me for the whole Ms. Marvel incident …an' everythin' Ah had done….They all threatened to disband if you let me in. but you did anyway. Ah will never forget your kindness."

"Rogue," The Professor 's heart sank a bit, as he sensed this was Rogue beginning a farewell to him.  
He began a sentence, but wasn't sure how to continue.

There was something that The Professor never admitted to anyone else. Of all the mutants he ever came across in his life, he felt the most disappointed in his inability to help Rogue. He made a lot of promises to help her with her powers. The personalities she absorbed were like a hundred little echoes bouncing off the corners of her mind. He truly wanted to make them all disappear. However, after all these years of intense therapy, and experimentation, he still couldn't find a way to help her….or even reach her. He never dared to say it to her face, but he actually gave up believing that he would ever help her a while ago.

Rogue knew this though. She noticed how their therapy sessions lacked any new approaches over the years. She also noticed how he lessened their frequency. At first, she was relieved, because she felt so bad about how they exhausted the Professor….but then she realized he was running out of ideas. She turned to the only other person who still had hope for her- Remy.

"Rogue, you are the student I am the most proud of." The Professor finally gathered his words. The banging on the door stopped, as if Cyclops had heard that last sentence. "You are exactly the example of hope I am always talking about. People can change. Watching you turn your life around with the X-men was one of the best things I have experienced. You changed….People can change. You can be… good."

Rogue smiled at him. Part of her thought his words were very sweet. The last sentence left her with a bit of doubt. She wondered if he was warning her that she was going to revert to old habits.

The Professor continued , " I can also sense your feeling of needing to leave. I wish you would reconsider."

"Professor…Ah.." Rogue looked down. " Ah don't want to leave… Ah have to leave. "

Remy walked over to the desk and put his arm around Rogue. They both looked at each other before Rogue continued. " Remy and Ah have to leave. We don't want to stay on a team where nobody trusts us. …You  
have to agree it's unfair…. Ah know we both have an awful past life. We've both done terrible things when we  
were younger…We are tired of our teammates constantly dragging that out… and constantly judgin' us  
for what we are gonna do based on what we used to do…."

The Professor knew she was right and had no reply. Thousands of thoughts swam in his head on how he was going to spend time with the X-men with trust-building exercises.

The silence grew very heavy and lingered in the room. After a long period of awkwardness, Rogue finally stood  
up. " Ah'm gonna go and grab my stuff…well, grab what's left….Ah guess that's just my jacket…"

Remy looked up, " I'm so sorry about dat Chere, …" He thought back to a week ago…

Suspicious about Rogue defecting, Cyclops tried searching for clues of her guilt. He busted into her bedroom with the rest of the team and started looking though everything.

Remy was angered by the invasion of privacy and started fighting everybody. Cyclops only saw this as proof of Gambit trying to hide something for her.

"All of your stuff is in here too?" Cyclops exclaimed in shock as he looked around. " Since when are you two sharing a room together?"

'None of yo' business where I sleep." Remy yelled at him. Rogue was extremely private, and he didn't feel like he needed to brag about the fact that she asked him to move into her room with her a few months before that.

"Oooh my…. " Warren laughed after peaking at Rogue's lingerie in the top dresser drawer.  
He then start opening the second dresser drawer….the private drawer….the drawer where they kept their favorite "toys." Remy became infuriated. Rogue was an extremely kinky girl when she was ALONE with him. She'd be mortified about all the immature jokes her teammates would throw at her if they were to see the contents of that drawer. Meaning to just put his hand on the drawer, to keep it shut form Warren, Remy charged the entire dresser on accident. Everybody ran out of the room, just in time before the explosion.

The entire room was destroyed. All of Rogue and Remy's belongings were now ashes. He swore out loud to himself at his extremely stupid move.

"…Right! You were definitely NOT trying to hide something from us, Gambit!" Cyclops yelled sarcastically. He then shook his finger at him , "…Don't worry , I'm going to find out what it is."

Remy snapped out of the flashback by Rogue's sweet voice. " Don't worry about it, Rem. It just means we have nothing' to take with us…We can start over completely." She smiled at the Professor and waited for Remy to leave with her.

"You go ahead, cherie. I'd like a few last words alone with the Proff." He said. Once Rogue exited, he leaned into The Professor "She can be 'good' ? What was that supposed to mean? I suppose I'm bad for her?"

The feelings The Professor sensed from Remy about leaving were completely different than the ones Rogue had. Resentment and distrust ruled over Remy.

"She is emotionally damaged, Gambit." The Professor warned him.

Gambit shot him a frown. He was angry at how The Professor was always challenging him about Rogue. It was almost condescending.

He had nearly scolded the two of them on how extremely dangerous it was for them to do their touching ritual. Rogue got really scared and had them stop. Luckily, it only took Remy a few days to get her comfortable again and the ritual resumed.

"Love does not conquer all, Gambit. ' The Professor continued. " If you take her away from here, you will learn this fast. You cannot fix years of mental torment with just love. It takes therapy , self-realization, and -"

"I may not have your training in psychology, but I know what's good for her." Remy cut him off. " I've been in love before, and you are right. It does not solve everythin' . Sometimes it makes things worse. It clogs up your arteries, it disfigures you, it blinds you from doin' the right thing. You've always acted like you know how to help her better than I do. …but you what? I have somethin' I can give her that is even better than love- it's hope. It's that hope you said you had in her, but the hope you can't give to her."

"Remy," The Professor tried to calm him down.

Remy had grown very angry. He took a deep breath and stood up. " You may have given up on her, but I haven't . I'm never gonna give up on her."

With that, Remy left the room.

The Professor stared at the door that slammed behind him. He held onto a new hope- the hope that the two of them would make the right decisions.

* * *

"Well,….we could steal it…" Rogue raised her eyebrow as she slipped out of the hot tub.

"Steal? You know I like stealin'. " Remy replied as he watched her dry off and pull her sundress on. " But since when are you a  
thief like me?"

" Since I haven't been sure 'bout which side we should be on. " Rogue took a sip of her gin and soda. " I mean, what are we goin' to do with ourselves now?"

"Well, in life dere's de good way, de bad way….an' de Remy LeBeau way…" He smirked and started getting out of the hot tub.

"Isn't the Remy LeBeau way, the wrong way?"

"Yes, but a lot more fun…"

Rogue let out a long laugh. "Let's do it, then."

Remy leaned into her , "You serious? 'Cause I usually steal alone….don't trust anybody else. It'd be sweet to do it wit' you… You still in?"

Rogue nodded. "I'll make the deal and then we'll steal it." She breathed out slowly. She felt like she had just made a deal with a devil. .. Le Diable Blanc….A very sexy devil who had just her pinned against the screen door. She had turned her life around. She was good. However, she secretly always liked how Remy indulged her bad girl side. Those piercing eyes of his were always searching for a way to free her.

He ran his fingers along her shoulder and she counted the seconds. He gripped her hair in his hand and pulled her head back. His other hand explored her neck and she counted the seconds.

"You sure you wanted to end your Birthday here? " He leaned into her ear and spoke in a low and seductive voice , "You know I could've taken you anywhere. Would've taken you to The Bahamas, Paris…. Milan, ..anywhere you wanted…"

" Ah know you would have….but I love this house…" She was starting to lose her ability to speak as her lover chose new places on her body to touch. She counted the seconds he spent at each one….. "I wanted to end the night here….in our home. " She managed to open her yes and look into his.

"You enjoyed your day?" He asked .

"Remy, Ah loved everything. The breakfast in bed….the afternoon at the beach….dinner on our own boat at sunset…then riding around slowly while watchin' the lights turn on in the skyline like they were stars.."

Remy watched her intensely as she described her day.

" This town has the best skyline Ah've ever seen anywhere….Oh and Ah loved it when we docked downtown we got to hear some of the music from the festival…"

He had never seen Rogue this calm and full of bliss….and she looked so incredibly beautiful in this state.

Remy continued to admire every part of her sexy body with his hands and smiled while she counted the seconds….. They were getting longer.

"You make me wanna do a lot of terrible, terrible, things for you, Anna." He whispered in her ear.

She whispered back into his ear , "You make me want to let you do terrible, terrible things to me, Remy."

She woke the animal inside of him with those words. He picked her up by her waist and started kissing her mouth….  
She counted the seconds….

He playfully bit her shoulder and she counted the seconds…

He struggled with the screen door , and carried her inside the house. He kissed her cleavage and she counted the seconds….

He threw her on the couch . She counted each second his fingers touched her as he slid her bikini bottom off from under her sundress.

She slid her hands under his shirt and ran her nails across his back….and counted the seconds.

"Anna , are you happy?" He asked in between planting kisses all over her legs. She counted the seconds.

"What are you talking about, Remy?" Rogue sat up a bit to look at him. She was bewildered. " What kind of question is that? Ah'm so happy."

Remy pulled her close to him. "Anna, I want you to trust me in this moment."

" Ah do " She kissed him quickly, and counted the seconds.

"Anna, I want you to focus on how happy you are right now." Remy stared straight into her eyes. It felt like he was staring right into her soul.

"Ah'm so happy. Ah'm so happy you showed me a new life. Ah'm so happy with this beautiful house, this city, the beach outside…Ah'm so happy you love me…."

"Keep thinkin' all that," Remy pulled her dress off. "Keep thinking' 'bout how much I love you…and how I've always wanted to do this to you…." He pushed Rogue comfortably onto her back.

He kissed her inner thigh…and she counted the seconds…..

He licked her up a little higher and she counted a minute.

His lips moved up even higher and she counted a minute and few seconds….

When his mouth reached her spot, she lost count.

She lost herself entirely. She was lost in the best experience of her life. She was lost in Remy's love , and it was a place she wanted to be lost in forever.

Remy watched her toes curl… he watched her arch her back… he watched her nails  
rip the couch cushions. He watched her moan as she climaxed…

She begged him to enter her, but he wanted to keep watching her in this moment.  
He pushed her down and kept watching.

"Rem- you know Ah -Ah can only do that once…." She tried to argue.

He proved her wrong. Moments later he watched her climax again….  
And then again a third time.

She pulled him up and declared that she couldn't take it anymore.

When he made love to her, she thought about how he had freed her.  
How he kept his promise…..and she was so happy…..

There were no clothes….no gloves…..no body stockings….  
just their skin…..

After trillions of seconds later, he collapsed on top of her.

"Happy Birthday, ma chere…" He said to her sweetly and kissed  
her breasts before resting his head on them.

She kissed his forehead. "Now, how am Ah supposed to top this on  
your Birthday?" She replied.

* * *

"Robert, I have had enough of your jokes. Do have a report, or don't you?" Cyclops asked.

All of the X-men had assembled in the war room and were listening to each other's reports. Cyclops had ordered everybody to monitor all the people he thought were suspects in trying to kill him.

"Yes, yes, of course I do." Bobby Drake cleared his throat and shuffled his paperwork. He found Cyclops' paranoia incredibly comical. "Hey everybody, I was assigned to spy on Gambit and Rogue…and I have to tell you , I've found some things that you would find very suspicious, Scott…." He leaned over to Cyclops, who raised an eyebrow in anticipation.

"Yes, like what?"

"Well, they are living in a house near the beach in….. Chicago….which I think is suspicious…." Bobby paused and looked at Scott.

"Why is that suspicious?" Scott asked

"Well, isn't that where Al Capone worked out of ?"

"ROBERT DRAKE!" Cyclops pounded his fist on the table. Emma tried to call him down, but was unsuccessful. " I demand you take this seriously!"

"Ok, Ok," Bobby looked apologetic, " Ok, so here is the report of my observation day : At approximately 11:23 am, Mr. LeBeau stepped out of the house to throw out the trash. At approximately 11:25 a.m, a small cat walked up to him and tried to let itself into the house. At this point during the interaction, Mr. LeBeau shooed it away with his foot before entering the house. Now, I can't confirm or dis-confirm if said cat is actually their pet, or just some stray."

"ROBERT!" Scott pounded his fist again.

Bobby pulled his paperwork up to his face so he could hide his laughter. He continued in a very serious voice, " I know that Rogue likes cats, so I feel that it is highly possible they would have adopted a cat. Mr. LeBeau's history of getting jealous when he has to split Rogue's attention with somebody else, makes the shooing away of the cat make a lot sense….. However, I have never seen Rogue as the type to fall for a tabby. She's always liked those bi-color or tuxedo cats…"

A few muffled chuckles sprinkled around the room.

"Stop talking about the fucking cat!" Scott exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Scott." Bobby lowered his paperwork from his face and gave him a very convincing and astonished look. " I was trying to be observant...At approximately 1:15pm, Mr. LeBeau exited the house, this time accompanied by Rogue, who was wearing a suspicious looking bikini…" He paused and looked at all of his male teammates. He then winked ," I found it suspicious that her tits could look even more phenomenal than I have ever seen them."

"That's it, Robert! Did you get any relevant information?" Cyclops snarled.

"Well, at approximately 1:35pm, that lucky LeBeau bastard grabbed those incredible tits..." Bobby tried to stop laughing, "That's relevant isn't it?"

"Bobby, please…" Emma pleaded with him to be serious as

"Well, I tried stick around longer to figure out what they are up to! Their pool looked really sweet. So, I had this idea about how funny it would be if I crept up over their fence, and just did a huge canonball into it. They would have killed me, but it would have been a hysterical surprise. ….but then I got the X distress call, and I zoomed back over here and we had to fight Omega Sad again…"

"Omega Red" Storm corrected him.

"Yeah, whatever Omega Sad makes more sense because he is such sad looking guy with that stupid costume." Bobby replied.

"I've had enough of you. " Cyclops grabbed Bobby's paperwork to read it over. His blood rushed to his temples when he realized the pages were completely blank. " You asshole! " Cyclops rolled the papers together and began hitting Bobby with it.

"Scott! ' Emma exclaimed , "While Bobby was too busy clowning around to notice something right under his nose, I found something interesting…"

Cyclops paused and looked over at his blond girlfriend, in shock. "What? Why didn't you say anything before?"

She only smiled and laid out a folder of photos on the war room table. She kept this quiet from Cyclops on purpose so she could get some recognition from the whole team. She was tired of being treated like Cyclops' shadow.

" I've been keeping tabs on the Brotherhood….Mystique, in particular, since she has tricked us with her shape shifting a lot of times. It seems that she and Sabertooth…are..might be rekindling their romance….or he's at least working with her and The Brotherhood.

'Victor Creed? " Beast asked surprised. "He's been missing for years. Wait until Wolverine finds out he's back."

Emma shot him a dirty look for trying to steal her moment of attention. " Yes, Beast, I was surprised too. Now, Bobby, you might find these satellite photos I have to be interesting. You were a little too busy drooling over Rogue's bikini top to notice who she is connecting with. Care to explain these? " Emma pulled out a series of photos from her folder and spread them out on the table.

They were of Rogue and Sabertooth. They were seated at a table in an outdoor beer garden.

"Emma! You did so well…" Scott complimented her softly under his breath. He admired each photo as if each one was some sort of pot of gold.

Bobby snagged the last photo out of Scott's hand. He furrowed his eyebrows at the image of Rogue and Sabertooth shaking hands.

"I knew it." Scott said in a matter-of-fact tone. " I knew Rogue was involved with The Brotherhood again.  
Everybody is under strict orders to not associate with her or Gambit. They are clearly involved with the enemy."  
Scott paused and looked at Bobby, who was still looking at the last photo. " That means no canonballs into their pool, Robert."


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5.

Remy tapped his pack of cigarettes anxiously before pulling one out. He slowly lit it and gazed out towards the street. He nervously smoked a second one just seconds after finishing the first one. He relaxed his muscles the minute he spotted Rogue walking safely towards their car.

"You ok?" He asked as Rogue got into the passenger side.

"Yeah, Remy, Ah'm fine." Rogue leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"You sure? " He looked into her eyes and leaned his forehead against his, "I hate that monster….I was so worried 'bout you. "

" Remy, " Rogue shook her head, "He shoulda been the only one worried…he knows my punch could throw his body out of orbit…"

Remy breathed out and laughed at that truth, "So, what kind of deal did he want?"

"It's funny…he wants the same thing we want. …blueprints." Rogue pulled Remy's cigarette out from his fingers and took a drag for herself.

Remy smiled at the lipstick mark she left on his cigarette after she passed it back to him. He could taste her lips when he inhaled . "Blueprints to the X-mansion?"

Rogue nodded. "He wants all the most updated security information we can give him."

"You didn't tell him we wanted blueprints too, did you?"

"No, of course not. Ah didn't mention anythin' about us wantin' blueprints to Magneto's place ….As we suspected, old Creed is still workin' for him."

Remy laughed, "The last thing we want is for Old Mags to be tipped off that we're tryin' to steal that big prize from him… Plus we know other people who can help us get those…." He started the car's engine. "So, did he have info on why Mystique tried to frame you an' get the X-men to turn against you?"

" Yeah. It all started because Destiny went missin.' Mystique thought Ah kidnapped her, as a way of getting back at her for what she has done to us recently…"

" Yeah, like when she disguised herself as Foxx and tried to seduce me?" Remy mumbled, " Dat wasn't as low as when she disguised herself as you, and thought I'd actually …" He was too disgusted to finish that sentence. "She's a twisted woman."

"Yeah…" Rogue agreed, her look of disgust matched Remy's expression , "Ah guess she's paranoid about mah revenge…Destiny raised me, just like she did….they were both my mothers…. Ah mean, Ah still hate them both, but Ah hate Destiny less. She was the silent partner …the silent accomplice…but she's not the one who tried to seduce mah boyfriend twice…" Rogue lost herself in thought for a moment.

Remy squeezed her hand.

"Anyway, Sabertooth…" Rogue continued, "He wants those blueprints badly…. He's offerin' to give me the file on Destiny's last diary entry …He heard that there's a bunch 'bout me in it…"

"If we are givin' him fake blueprints, how do we know he ain't gonna the same to us?" Remy asked.

"I can tell when my mother's visions are real or being forged… She hand writes them …Ah used to write them down for her back in the day…Ah was the only one who she'd let do that. " Rogue paused and smiled.

Remy tried to read Rogue's expression. She lost herself in another deep memory. "Anna? "

Rogue snapped back into reality, "Anyway,,..Sabertooth- he seemed really weird to me. He looks like he's lost some body mass… He also kept scratching his skin…"

"Well, he probably has fleas…" Remy said sarcastically.

Rogue laughed, "True…but it was weird….he looked kinda sickly…like …paler than usual. "

* * *

"How do you know I have it?" Wolverine folded his arms across his chest.

"Ah know all about it, Logan, " Rogue sipped her beer. " I know all about you and Magda all those years ago…"

Logan scowled at her.

" You snuck into Mags' place a few weeks ago to look at that file…to look at that DNA info….to make sure 'bout Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch…"

Logan raised his eyebrow at her.

"…I read your memories, remember?"

A defeated look cast itself over Logan like a shadow.

"Rogue, cherie,…..he saved your life…" Remy reminded her.

Rogue felt a little bad. Remy was right. Woverine's healing factor was the reason she was breathing right now.  
She thought back to that day her X-men betrayed her. She thought back to how The Juggernaut slipped that Genoshan mutant- power surpressing collar on her…and then he beat her up until she almost died…..

"Rogue?' Remy called her name and she returned back to the present. Remy had been growing worried about this. Lately, Rogue had this habit of sinking deep into her thoughts.

"Look, Logan Ah didn't mean to use your memories like that, " She apologized. She really didn't mean to tease him. However, Logan tended to irritate her. He liked to get very preachy with everybody about their choices, while following none of his own rules. She was also annoyed with how he was always the first to throw under Remy the bus for anything.

"What are you two up to exactly?" Logan narrowed his eyes.

"No, Logan. You can't ask that," Rogue lowered her sunglasses so she could look him in the eye. " Our deal with you is that is that we won't ask you what you are up to , and you won't ask us…."

"You do this for us…and we have somethin' to give you…."

"Like what?…" Logan looked at them suspiciously. He never trusted Gambit, and wouldn't be surprised if he was getting Rogue involved in some criminal activity.

Rogue smirked at Logan like she was about to give him a big Christmas present. "Ah can give you Victor Creed. "

Logan jumped out of his seat and grabbed Rogue's sleeve hard. " HE'S ALIVE ?"

Remy jumped in between them, " Get your hand off her! "

"It's ok, Remy…" Rogue shook her arm away from Wolverine. She then stood up and separated the two men, who looked like they were going to kill each other.

"Sorry….it was a bad reflex…" Logan calmed himself and sat back down. " I've been looking for that degenerate son of a bitch for the last three years…""

"Listen. Logan….it gets better…" Rogue sat down. " Ah noticed how physically different he looked the last time Ah met with him…"

"You've met with him? Where is he?" Wolverine grew impatient and pounded his fists on the table.

"Easy now….." Remy warned him.

Rogue pulled out a box of cigars and offered it to him as a way to calm him. "As Ah was sayin' …Ah noticed how different he is now…he looked weaker. So, Remy went out an' did some research- "

Remy continued the story, "Now, you know how they tried to copy that adamantium experiment you had onto Creed? How they coated his skeleton with it? Well, over the last year, they started takin' it out of him…..because his body's been rejectin' it. He's been hidin' from you for a reason."

Logan raised his eyebrow.

"Logan," Rogue grinned, " He's allergic to adamantium. Deathly allergic…."

"Where is he? Can't wait to shove an adamantium injection into his skull." Wolverine growled and clenched his fist.

" Listen, we don't care about what you'd like to do him. If you wanna slice him open like a can opener, please , be mah guest…but Ah have to meet with him first and get a file from him. Once I have it, he's all yours."

"When?" Logan calmed down a bit and stuck a cigar in his mouth.

"End of next week. You know, goin' back to what we were talkin' bout earlier…'bout possible family relations?"

"What's that?" Logan noticed how Rogue's mood changed from serious into a playful one.

"Well, Ah'm pretty sure Sabertooth and Mystique are just usin' each other for something' right now. But Ah was thinkin' 'bout how they used to be involved. Mystique dumped him for Destiny right before she adopted me…"

"….and your point?" Logan asked as he took his first drag off the cigar.

"Well- if they stayed together… an' say they got married, that asshole woulda been my foster father….and since he's your half- brother… that means you coulda been my half- uncle!"

Logan spat out his cigar in shock of Rogue's punch line. He rarely laughed, but this crazy realization erupted a chuckle in him.

"So, what do you think, do we have a deal, Uncle Wolvie? You give us that access code, and we deliver Victor Creed to you…..?"

* * *

Bobby woke up to a loud voice over a megaphone:

"ROBERT DRAKE!"

It startled him so much that he rolled over and fell. …into water….. There was water all around him. Why was he in water? He swallowed some of it by accident and it tasted like chlorine. He must be in a pool. He swam to the surface and focused his eyes. He was indeed in a pool. It was Rogue and Gambit's pool. The exact place Cyclops had forbidden him from being in.

…and yes, there was Cyclops, in a helicopter hovering over him in the sky.

The last thing Bobby remembered was buzzing on Rogue and Remy's gate…..

He had suggested to Cyclops that he could spy on them more. Cyclops did not trust him to do a good job, and of course denied the request. So, Bobby left anyway.

The sarcastic note he left Scott's pillow only added to his fury. It read: "Sorry I couldn't stay and snuggle longer. I'll be home before dark. Don't wait up. Love Always, Bobby. PS: We gotta talk about Emma's snoring. It kept me up all night."

Bobby just wanted to talk to his two friends. He couldn't believe they were on the enemy's side…..

Then, he remembered getting comfortable on the air mattress in their pool…he must have fallen asleep on it..

What happened in between? He started climbing out of the pool. He rubbed his head in pain. This was a hangover. The missing link between him buzzing their bell and falling asleep in their pool… were drinks…Lots of them.

"Hold on…I gotta find my shoes…and my shirt…" Bobby wandered around in their backyard.

A bunch of strangers he didn't know were passed out in various spots of the yard.

…..No, they weren't strangers. They were Gambit's old Thieves Guild buddies….and Bobby became best friends with them last night while they all did vegas bomb shots together….

He spotted his shoe underneath a pile of beer cans near the hot tub…..But where was his other shoe?  
Inside the hot tub? A memory flashed back to him- He had jumped into it with all his clothes on. He found his sunglasses inside the tub, but that second shoe's location was still a mystery.

Up in the helicopter, Scott grew impatient.

"Do you want me to fly down there?" Storm offered from the cockpit. She hoped his answer would be a yes,  
as she was dying of curiosity about how Rogue was doing. Cyclops shook his head.

Bobby lost all hope in finding his shirt. He generated some ice and zoomed on it up to the helicopter.

"You're gonna have to waive your 'no shoes- no shirt - no service' policy for me this one time, Scotty. I think I threw my other shoe over the fence when that squirrel looked at me funny last night." He squinted at the ground to see if this could be true, " Hell, at least I have a theory about my shoe. My shirt is a lost cause."

"ROBERT! " Scott still had the megaphone up to his mouth.

"FUCK!" Bobby winced at the pain in his ear, "You freakin' asshole!" He grabbed the megaphone out of Scott's hand and threw it into Lake Michigan below them.

A fist fight ensued.

"I will throw the both of you out of here right now!" Storm yelled. She rarely raised her voice like this, and the two men stopped their fighting.

Storm took one last look at the house before flying the helicopter away. She hoped to see Rogue peak out of the house, but saw nothing of the sort.

Inside the house, Remy had his arms wrapped around Rogue in their bed. Since she gained the ability to touch him , they always slept cuddled up as tightly together as possible. All the noise outside woke them up.

"What are they doin' here?" Rogue asked sleepily. "Ah don't wanna see any of them."

"Don't worry, you don't have to talk to… or see nobody you don' want to." Remy tenderly kissed her temple. He heard Cyclops barking at Bobby outside. "Sounds like they just came to get Bobby…"

"Our plan to worked, huh?" Rogue smiled into her pillow.

"Yeah …give Bobby a few drinks, an' he lets you distract him from all his questions."

"It was so nice to see him, though," Rogue rolled over so she could hug her Cajun face to face. "He's one of the only X-men Ah really miss….."

"Yeah, me too. He's a good buddy, but he can't know what we're up to." Remy kissed her forehead.

Rogue opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Yeah, that's the deal between you an' me. Tell nobody the full plan…Just you an' I know it."

Up in the air, Storm flew the helicopter further away.

"You disobeyed my orders, Robert." Cyclops scolded him like a school teacher .

"But I have something to add to my report….." Bobby started buckling his seat belt.

"What is that?" Cyclops sighed , fearing the kind of smart-ass answer he was about get.

" Experiencing this current hangover makes it evident that Mr. LeBeau and Ms. Rogue really know how to throw a kick ass party."


	6. Chapter 6

" I've always liked her. She's a wonderful woman." Jean-Luc LeBeau said to his son. They both watched Rogue as got invited to join the band on the stage. She shook her head timidly.

"I've never met anybody like her." Remy admired her from afar.

Buddy Guy's Legends was bustling that night. The blues band on stage instigated a round of applause to encourage Rogue to overcome her shyness. She had been singing along to all their songs with such enthusiasm, that they couldn't resist giving her a chance to have the spotlight for a song.

"So modest too…" Jean -Luc nodded.

Remy laughed at his father's comment, " No, she isn't. She knows she's good. Just watch, she'll get up dere…."

Sure enough, with some extra encouragement from Mercy, Rogue mounted the stage.  
The crowd burst into applause. Rogue winked at Remy, and he blew her a kiss.

She looked stunning under the stage lights. Since her new found freedom of touching, she had bought herself a completely new wardrobe that Remy loved. Every article of clothing she had, accentuated her curves, cleavage, or legs, and sometimes all three. She had toned it down a bit tonight, since their company included Remy's father and sister-in-law. She wore a green, knee-length body clinging 1940's-style dress. She matched her hairstyle with victory curls. Her lips were hot red.

Remy couldn't get enough of looking at his Goddess. She got up to the microphone and started belting out a B.B King cover. Her voice was strong and sexy, and it ran shivers through Remy's body.

"I 've been down hearted baby…." She sang, " Eeeeeeeeeeever since the day we met…"

"I like Chicago….reminds me a lot of N'awlins." Jean-Luc looked around the club.

Remy's Cajun accent always got deeper when he was around family , " A lot about dis town reminds me of N'awlins… 'Specially blues and jazz clubs like dese…"

"Well, it's a swamp, just up North…"

The break in their conversation was obvious even though it was covered by Rogue's commanding voice. Since leaving the X-men , Remy's entire family was upset he didn't return to New Orleans.

"Our love is nothin' but the blues…Baaaaaaaby how bluuuuuuuue can you get?"

"We had a lot fun de other night." Remy looked over at his father, "Anna an' I threw a party for some of de Guild members at our house … It was nice to catch up wit' ev'rybody… It's nice to have you visit too."

"Remy, we do miss you in de Big Easy….All de stuff I talked about before…It ain't just 'bout the Guild. Dis is about the LeBeau family…."

" I know.. miss you all too…..Listen, Dad…..why don' we make a deal?"

"What kind of deal?"

"I'll come down to N'awlins more often. I'll help you shoulder some of de responsibility of leadin…."

His father nodded, "An' what you want in return?"

" We could use some guys…some muscle for a few personal projects….. Dey can be entry level… We don't mind trainin' dem. ..maybe some of your worse guys.. wouldn't want to steal away your better guys."

"Sure." Jean-Luc didn't even question his son's motives. He was just happy to hear that he'd be seeing him more.  
He applauded Rogue as she and Mercy rejoined them at their table. "You were wonderful!"

"Why thank you, Mr. LeBeau." She smiled.

"Please, please, you know to call me Jean-Luc. I mean, we're like family, Rogue."

Rogue smiled warmly, " Please, you know to call me Anna…"

* * *

The night's rain poured down sharply like pack of nails. Its echoes was the only noise heard throughout the abandoned parking lot complex.

Sabertooth observed Rogue with intensity. He searched for some sign of nervousness, but she looked calm and poised as she handed him the flash drive.

"You don't mind me checking before we leave , do you?" He asked slyly as he pulled out a laptop.

"Be mah guest." Rogue's voice was flat. She stared back at him, searching for a sign of suspicion. She was very anxious , but didn't let one hint of it show. Though Remy was the professional gambler, it was Rogue who had the best poker face. Hiding her emotions was like second nature.

Outside of their limousine, Remy LeBeau stood guard a few feet away. With his back against a post, he never took his gaze off of Avalanche, who stood across from him on the other side of the limousine.

Their expressions warned each other to not make any sudden moves. Avalanche was like a wrench that was thrown into the machine for Rogue and Remy. They assumed Sabertooth would come alone. He must have wanted a second set of eyes.

Inside, Sabertooth continued to look through the digital file. Rogue's nerves caused her blood to rush a bit when Sabertooth continued to speak. " I got the original floor plans... building permits...and everything here . Let's see how these blueprints match up."

"Of course they match! " Rogue snapped at him. "How do I know what you're given me is real?"

"Calm down , girlie. . . " Sabertooth's eyes lit up as he looked through more pages ."I'll need to check everything before I send these over ..."

Rogue thought back to how proud Remy looked of his work when he handed the flash drive over to her.

He had scoured the original building plans of the mansion to make sure his blueprints matched.

Part of Remy fantasized about actually handing over the real blueprints and security secrets. He imagined Scott's terrified face when Sabertooth barged into the war room. . . but it was just a thought. After all that Rogue and he went through having to prove their innocence, he wouldn't betray the X-men. It would give them too much satisfaction to see him live up to their preconceptions of him.

"Those bastards are so lucky I'm takin' de high road" He found himself mumbling that a lot when he messed with the blueprints.

He created forged building permits to fake rooms. Anybody following these plans was sure to set off secret alarms or get stuck in walled- in rooms.

Inside the limo, Sabertooth began to frown at the screen. "Wait. . . This part doesn' t make sense. How could there be an extra underground room here? That would be in the way of the sewer." He looked at a copy of a town plan.

" Yup. that's what you're supposed to think." Rogue replied. "Charlie's paid them enough to have a non-existent sewer on the map."

"Hmmmm…." Sabertooth gave her a suspicious look and continued to browse the blueprints .

Rogue decided to turn the suspicion around on him. "I think you're stallin' me, Creed. You aren't givin' me that file, are you?. . .Ah shoulda known you wouldn't sell out the Brotherhood. You probably still have a soft spot for Mystique"

Sabertooth choked at that thought, "I'd sell them all out any time. They've been hidin' me, that's all….but all I need is my money from this from job, and I'm off on my own again…I'm gonna get lost real far, and never gonna look at that blue bitch again." He pulled out his flash drive and dangled it in front of Rogue. "What about you, girlie…why'd you sell out the X-men….?"

She took a deep breath.

Outside, Remy kept looking at the immediate surroundings around Avalanche. He needed to figure out how to get rid of him before Rogue got out of the limo. The driver was to flash the headlights when the meeting was over. Rogue would open the door exactly 60 seconds later.

He'd have to do it before then. If Avalanche sees the headlights, he might think it's a signal and warn Sabertooth.  
He had to be fast and quick. Once startled, Avalanche would send an earthquake his way. He frowned at the guy, remembering some of the stories Rogue told him about their time together in the Brotherhood. . . about what a condescending asshole he was to her…..How he and Pyro snitched on her the two times she tried to leave.

He hadn't told Rogue this, but he had a secret mini-plan. It was to get revenge on all her former Brotherhood teammates for all the pain they caused her.

He focused his eyes more on Avalanche and finally decided to strike. He'd distract him first and then pounce quickly and quietly…

"I'd sell them out in a minute." Rogue said inside the limo. Like Remy, she too fantasized about this statement being true, " Ah proved mahself to them for years. …gave them all my loyalty…..an' they quickly believed this idea that Ah was secretly leading the Brotherhood in of a series of assassinations …..Mystique of course was framin' me…

"During our last mission, the Juggernaut dragged me away from the group and smacked a collar on me…One of the victim's families had hired him to get information from me…So, he started interrogatin' me. Threw me across the room….At lost ll the feelin' on the left side of mah body…so Ah started dragging mahself away from him with mah right arm…." Rogue was filling up with rage . She had no idea why she was telling Sabertooth this story. It's just that every time the memory started in her head, she had to let it out somehow.

Sabertooth observed her pure rage and shut the laptop.

She continued her story ," An' you know what that son of a bitch Cyclops yelled at me when Ah called for help…?  
He just stood there an' yelled, 'Rogue, just give him the information he wants!' He just stood there an' that's when Ah dared him to join in on the punches. He just kept repeatin' how I should just end it all and give up all the information I know….

"Storm stood outside the room and was tryin' to come in an' help, but Cyclops ordered her to stay out an' keep the rest of the team from interferin'…She was to use any means possible to keep anybody from chargin' in …He said Ah was on the verge of finally confessin' what Ah've been up to… The Juggernaut came after me again…and Ah don't remember when exactly Ah passed out….

" When Ah came to in the infirmary, Remy was sittin' next to me. He had burn marks on his forearm from Storm. Cyclops had a broken arm. Ah didn't have all mah hearin' back yet, but Ah could hear Cyclops yellin' at Remy 'bout how was off the team for breakin' his arm and nearly killin' the Juggernaut… It's funny how the X-men have that 'no killin' rule, but they don't care if one their own dies… but Ah guess him bein' Xavier's half brother, Charlie was always havin' us take pity on him…." Rogue finally stopped.

Sabertooth was convinced. He finally handed over the flash drive to her.

"Thanks." She let out a deep breath, releasing some of the anger that story had risen in her. She stuck the flash drive into her laptop.

A loud thud was heard outside.

"What was that? " Sabertooth tried to get up.

Rogue put her arm out for him to stop. She then knocked on the window panel that separated her from the driver , "William. We are 'bout done." Sabertooth didn't notice the driver slip out quietly. "It could be somebody givin' our boys some trouble…"

"Bullshit…Your boy is probably startin' trouble."

"Well, you should keep yours on a leash." Rogue snapped.

Sabertooth tried to charge at her, but she kicked him to the back of the limo.

"Listen, Creed, one more thing…. " Rogue opened the limo door. " Ah totally forgot to tell you. I ran into an old friend of yours that wanted to catch up with you ."

Sabertooth's eyes widened in fear as Rogue's spot in the limo was replaced by Wolverine.

Outside, Rogue quickly ran over to Remy, "What was with that noise? Ah had to cut out short, and didn't have time to check the file he gave me." Rogue then spotted Avalanche on the ground. He was bloody, "Oh."

"Sorry, cherie." Remy lit a cigarette. " Uncle Wolvie got impatient and started slicin'…I just told him to make sure he cleans up his mess when he's done."

He put his arm around her and led her out of the parking lot.

* * *

A fresh Summer breeze blew in through the window of their office. Rogue breathed it in, admiring how fresh and wonderful the lake made it.

" 'An' what about this girl?" Rogue laughed as she pulled up a resume. She was sitting comfortably in Remy' lap in front of their computer.

"Hmm… She's not a t'ief, but she looks like she could be enough trouble." He smiled at the computer screen. File folders were sprawled all around them.

They had spent the day doing background checks on new guild members, hoping to find some decent hired help for their big heist.

"I think she sounds perfect…" She laughed at her fake resume she typed up earlier. "Look at all her experience.."

" I don't know…what about her skills? " Remy continued to play along, " It says she's an 'Excellent getaway driver' ..That could in handy.. …'Superb talent in memorizing long series of numbers and combinations…' That's good.  
'Expert at forging signatures' …..I don' think I can make a decision 'bout her 'till she comes in for interview ."

"Remy!" Rogue giggled as he kissed her neck and grabbed her breast. He started slipping off her silk robe. "We already went at it three times today…"

"Only three times? What's wrong with us?"

Rogue stood up and put her hands on her hips, " Ok, Is this mah official interview for the job, Mr. LeBeau?"

"Why, yes it is. Thank you for comin' in, Ms. Anna. Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable, " He gestured for her to return to his lap.

"If you don't mind, Mr. LeBeau, I'd rather we get straight to me demonstrating the skills Ah have. Ah'm really anxious to get this job." She winked at him and got down her knees, "Ah heard how you're a really big and important man. It'd be an honor to work under you.."

Remy melted as she unzipped his pants. He closed his eyes and enjoyed every moment of ecstasy Rogue sent through his body. When he couldn't take it anymore, he picked her up, and sat her on the computer desk . He threw her robe off and returned her favor by rubbing her spot.

"…. Looks like Ah nailed mah interview, huh?" She managed to joke while she looked at her Cajun, whose hands were very busy.

"Yeah, you are about to right now…." He slid inside her. The computer keyboard, mouse, and papers went flying everywhere, and the two nearly broke the monitor and the desk itself.

As they finished their fourth love making session of the day, a small noise off the computer alerted them that the file containing Destiny's diary entries had finally downloaded. Out of breath, Remy looked over at the screen.

"No, let's check it in the morning. A gal needs some sleep after getting worn out like that…" Rogue kissed the stubble on his chin as she ran her fingers along his chest.

He picked up his Southern Belle and carried her away into their bedroom.

The light from the computer projected an eerie glow, predicting the cruel information it was holding onto for the next morning.


	7. Chapter 7

Cyclops was having trouble finishing his sentences. The sound of loud typing kept distracting him. He turned around from the screen to face his team. They were all seated around the war room table. The loud typing was coming from who else, but Robert Drake.

"Robert, what are you doing?" Cyclops exclaimed.

Bobby was wearing Beast's reading glasses and looking at his watch. He ignored Cyclops and read the words out loud he was typing, " 2:43 pm- Scott asks 'Robert, What are you doing?' "

"Bobby…" Emma shook her head at him.

Bobby continued "2:44 p.m- The entire team looks relieved to have a small break from Scott's annoying voice…"

"Robert. Stop typing and answer me!" Scott moved towards him.

" 2:46 pm - Scott says, ' Robert. Stop typing and-'

Cyclops grabbed the laptop away from Bobby before he could finish typing. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Well, Gambit said that since you asked me to spy on them, then he'd like me to spy on you for him."  
It was true- Remy had said this to Bobby at the party. But, it was just a joke. Bobby, though, thought it would be a hysterical way to make Cyclops more paranoid.

"He wants you to spy on me?" Cyclops furrowed his eyebrows.

" Trust me, sweetheart. Were I given the choice, I'd spy on anybody else that was not as dull as you are. My report about you is a total snore. Except that I've found that how long you spend in the bathroom is interesting.."

Cyclops's blood rushed to his face.

Bobby continued…" I have yet to conclude if it's because you need to eat more fiber …or if you're jerking off more.  
Has Emma finally come to her senses and stopped putting out?"

Emma's face went red and Cyclops charged at Bobby with punches. Bobby's own laughter prevented him from defending himself better. The two fell on the floor and exchanged punches. The entire team ran over to separate them, but were unsuccessful.

Professor Xavier entered the room and his voice immediately broke the two up. "SCOTT! ROBERT! This is unacceptable!"

"Professor!" Scott stood up and brushed himself off. He tried to look innocent.

" He started it." Bobby explained. " I told him that we can't fight in here….This is the war room!" Bobby laughed at his movie reference. The rest of the team was silent…. " Really? Nobody got that? It's from 'Dr. Strangelove' …. 'And How I Learned to Love the Atomic Bomb.' " He shook his head when nobody laughed.

"Professor. I have had enough of Robert's disrespect, insults, his disregard for my authority. He's a loose canon!"  
He then turned around to yell in Bobby's face "You ignore my orders! You associate with enemies!"

"Rogue and Gambit deserve to explain themselves!" Bobby snapped.

" Oh, and did they ? Did they explain why they are pals with Sabertooth? No, they got you drunk before you could even ask them. That's the oldest trick in the book with you, Drake. Everybody knows how liquor is your weak spot!"

Cyclops finally hit a nerve with Bobby. He grew angry and spat out, "I heard you and the Professor talking about something interesting the rest of the team would like to hear." He turned around to face the rest of the team, "Yeah, they were video chatting with Magento yesterday ."

" Magento? Do you mean Magneto?" Storm asked.

"Yes, but I prefer Magento. Why are you always questioning my nicknames for everybody, Storm? They are so much better than their real names. I call him Magento because he has washed that uniform too many times. He's kidding if he thinks it's red. It's definitely faded into magenta."

"You need to shut it, Icicle. " Cyclops frowned at him.

"Hey everybody! Cyco tried to make a joke! It was bad, but let's give him a round of applause anyway!" Bobby laughed sarcastically.

"Robert, I think you, Scott, and I should have a word alone, about what you think you may have heard us discuss."

" Are you trying to keep me quiet?" Bobby raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, he's trying to get you stop running that childish mouth of yours!" Cyclops defended the Professor.

"You're hypocrites." Bobby looked at The Professor and Cyclops. "You think that me associating with Ace and Stripes in Chicago is unacceptable, while you regularly chatting with one of our worst foes is just fine. At least, I'm not keeping it a secret like you two are. When were you planning on telling everybody about Asteroid M?"

"Asteroid M?" Beast's eyes opened wide. " I thought that was ruined."

"Magento rebuilt it…" Bobby crossed his arms. "….and guess where our upcoming family vacation is going to be in a few weeks. "

Gasps filled the room.

"What? We barely got out of there alive last time!" Warren exclaimed.

"Professor, why are we going back to Asteroid M?" Jubilee asked.

"That's it, Drake! You've caused enough trouble!" Cyclops yelled. Bobby got up from his seat and started to leave.  
"Where are you going?"

He flashed Cyclops his middle finger as he exited the room. "I'm going to go take my vacation somewhere else, that is NOT any of the following: #1 NOT on a giant colony on an asteroid in the middle of space where nobody can come and find us. #2 NOT controlled by a psychopath and #3 NOT a place where I have to eat astronaut food. That crap makes me puke."

* * *

The clock read 3 A.M. on the nightstand. After going to the bathroom, the light from the computer lured Rogue into the office.

She sat down and started looking through Destiny's files…Moments later, her body began shuddering.  
Her face went pale. Nausea settled in her stomach. She let out a scream. She stepped back from the computer and tripped over her own feet.

Remy woke up from the thud and scream and rushed into the office. He hurried over to her on the floor. "What's wrong, Anna? Why are you so pale?"

"Ah…. just saw mah future…mah fate…an' " She held onto Remy's arm as he helped her stand up.

"Anna, what happened?" He had never seen her so shaken up.

"Remy- Ah think …Ah'm gonna be sick. " She ran past him and ducked into the hallway bathroom.  
None of her vomiting could expel the amount of revulsion that plagued her body. She reached over for the mouthwash and opened the door to a very anxious Remy.

He was completely confused. "Anna, are you ok?"

Rogue stepped out from the bathroom holding onto her mouth. She wasn't sure if she was going to still be sick.

Slowly, her disgust turned into anger. Her pale face was replaced with a red color " Ah don't want to just steal it anymore, Remy. It's not enough, It's not enough. You know why? 'Cause its not enough just to steal that from him."

"Rogue…Anna? What are you talkin' bout?" Remy struggled to make sense out of her broken fragments.

"Ah have power over all mah decisions….. over mah life….an that is NOT mah future….. Ah wanna destroy him. Ah wanna depower him…Ah wanna ruin him! Sh ekept pointing at the computer.

"What are you talkin 'bout, cherie?" Remy looked at Rogue's eyes that were staring at the computer screen.  
He slowly turned around to look over at it. His heart dropped to his stomach at one of Destiny's sketches… "Dis …dis can't be …" Remy walked over to the computer to look closer. He struggled to breath at the image:

It showed Rogue and Magneto passionately kissing.

"He's gonna mentally rape me. He's been building' his own version of cerebro…except his controls minds…Remy, he's gonna control my mind, so he can force me to 'love' him . That fucking sick bastard…"

Remy clicked to the next diary entry. It described how Magneto uses the mind control on Rogue to get her to marry him and become his queen on Asteroid M.

The following diary image showed a sketch of Rogue giving birth to Magneto's child.

The next entry of the diary was the worst…

It showed Rogue overcoming the mind control one night, just long enough to commit suicide while Magneto slept. A photo of Remy lay in her dead hand.

The last entry describes how their child grows up to become the worst villain in history. He and his father rule the world, where they have wiped out all of humankind with Sentinels who used to hunt mutants.

Remy was frozen at the computer. His shoulders were tense. "None of dis can be true…"

Rogue walked over to him. She clicked through Destiny's files , "Everythin' she predicted so far came true…but these notes that Magneto and Mystique wrote in over them talk about how Ah've changed things… you an' I were supposed to be broken up by now…"

Remy remained silent and put his hand over Rogue's on his shoulder. "Magneto. ..He's been tryin' to ruin you an' me for years." Tears started leaking out of her eyes. " Look at the earlier entries…. When we all found out Mr. Sinister was your real father, an' Scott tried to kick you off the team…Ah was supposed to be disgusted and break up with you….

"When you were put on trial for the Marauders massacre, it was him behind that. He was secretly disguised as Eric the Red…he wanted the X-men to abandon you…he wanted me to abandon you in Antarctica, but Ah stayed with you….

"Then, he was the one who set you up as the assassin in Bishop's vision…Again, so Ah'd abandon you…But Ah saved you and sent Bishop back to the future so he wouldn't kill you …..

"Look at all of Mystique's involvement….she'd been behind this forever.…she's been trainin' me for this. It's why she hates you so much…It's why she's hated all the guys Ah ever dated…none of them were ever good enough for her….because she wanted me to be that asshole's bride….Remy, Ah love you…an' ONLY you…."

Remy finally snapped out of his silence and stood up. His beautiful love was violently shaking. He took her in his arms and squeezed her tighter than he had ever before, "I know you love me, cherie. I love you too."

Rogue pulled him into a kiss. "Ah love you so much, Remy, ONLY you" She repeated and sobbed louder. "He is such a sick bastard. It's all a part of his sick obsession with me! He thinks I'd ever actually be interested in him? He's a murderer…he's twice my age….he's arrogant…

"When Ah was a teenager, he used to come over to the house…..an' try to touch me…Ah remember this time Ah was playin' on the piano when Ah was 15 an' he sat down next to me on the bench… and started rubbing mah inner thigh like a fucking sick pedophile. He's immune to mah powers because of that magnetic field… When I told Mystique, she told me I was imaginin' things…and if I weren't, Ah it'd be an honor that such a powerful man showed interest in me…. Ah FUCKING hate her!"

"Anna…." Remy tried to process everything, " Why didn't you tell me 'bout that before?"

"Then he tried to kiss me in the Savage Lands, right after he kill Zaladine right in front me…"

"What? When were you in Savage lands with him?" Remy was shocked.

Rogue paused and pulled away from Remy to look at him. Anger was taking over his body , "We were stuck together in the Savage Lands once…just before Ah joined the X-men…Ah shoulda let him die…but I took pity on that bastard, an' he took that as a sign that Ah was interested in him…."

"Anna, you told me 'bout Cody, why didn't you ever tell me about all this 'bout Magneto?" Remy's voice was still angry. " You an' Ah were 'bout to go an' steal from him…an' you didn't think this was important to mention?"

Rogue was at a loss for words.

"How come you never told me?" Remy repeated. He let go of his embrace. He stepped back and looked at her in her face. "I thought we agreed , no secrets..."

"Rem- Remy- It was mah secret…and' you're right Ah shoulda told you before…It was just that Ah never wanted anybody to know …"

"Rogue, we see him all the time…What if he- what if he had tried to take you away during any of our missions with the X-men? Rogue why didn't you tell me?"

"It was mah stupid pride…Ah never wanted anybody to know that Ah couldn't handle him….Ah didn't want to show any weakness to the team… didn't want anybody to know that he creeped me out an' that Ah was…well afraid of him…"

"You promised me ….You promised no secrets, Anna. I've told you everything 'bout myself…an' here you are keeping something from me…" His voice sounded more disappointment than angry.

Remy shook his head and walked out of the room. The bedroom door closed behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

Rogue was curled up on the couch in the downstairs living room. The clock read 5:15 a.m. She hadn't moved since Remy closed the bedroom door behind him. Nothing felt worse to her than disappointing Remy. All the predictions about her horrible future didn't come close to how awful it felt to see the man she loved upset with her.

Why did she always do this? Why didn't she know how to be good to the people who actually loved her? Well, the one person who actually loved her….. Remy was the first person she ever met who didn't have a secret agenda for using her.

Her father used her as somebody to beat so he could make himself feel better.

Mystique used her for her powers and for Magneto's sick plan.

It took her years to prove herself to the X-men. But in the end, they still didn't trust her.

Remy was different. He fell for her immediately when he met her. He never once judged her for her past. He loved her unconditionally like no one else did. He was the first person to never break a promise to her.

She couldn't handle it. She went downstairs to the laundry room and pulled out some clothes out of the dryer she had forgotten to take out earlier. She threw on a skirt and tank top. She threw the rest of her clothes into a large purse. She then went upstairs and grabbed her wallet, her purse, and slid her shoes on.

She wasn't going to disappoint him anymore. She was going to do what she did best- run away. She was better off when she was alone and with nobody near her.

Remy deserved better. He deserved a woman who didn't have so many issues. Somebody who wouldn't keep secrets from him.

She opened the front door and walked out of the house. It was a typical Summer morning for Chicago- already hot and humid at 5:30 a.m.

"If you keep runnin,' you'll end up wit' no where to run to..." Remy's voice startled her. He was standing on the second story wrap- around balcony just above her. He pulled the freshly lit cigarette out of his mouth to focus on her

Rogue stopped in her tracks and looked into his eyes.

"You can't be leavin…" Remy shook his head.

"Ah don't want to be a disappointment to you anymore, Remy." Rogue looked at the ground.

Remy threw his cigarette away in frustration. "I'm sorry, Anna. You didn't disappoint me. I made it seem like I was mad at you... I wasn't mad at you...victim blaming isn't fair...I was mad about what happened to you an' I took it out the wrong way…"

Rogue nodded.

"But, I am upset right now with the site of you wantin' to get up and leave." His face was sad. " You wanna leave, Anna? Do you wanna leave me?"

"No…Ah don't wanna leave..Ah just thought it'd be best…"

Remy jumped off the balcony with one his fantastic acrobatic moves. He grabbed her bag from her and wrapped his arm around her waist. " Couples do this sometimes, Anna…they get into this stupid little tiffs and fights… Runnin' away from it doesn't help anythin' "

Rogue put her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart racing.

Remy lifted her chin so he could look straight into her eyes. "If we're gonna spend the rest of our lives together, we have to be 100% honest wit' each other."

"...The rest of our lives together...?" Rogue almost whispered in shock.

They smiled at each for the first time in hours. Remy didn't even realize what he was implying until those words  
slipped past his mouth. Yes, this was the woman he wanted by his side for the rest of time. He wasn't going to give up on her.

"Anna, I won't let you leave. You can't." He pulled her down to sit next to him on the front porch.

"Remy, you've done so much for me..and Ah was about to run away because Ah hated the thought of disappointin' you..." Rogue hung her head low and then looked straight ahead, "You have given me everythin' you could...there's not much more you can give me.." A tear rolled down her cheek.

Remy's heart sank. He did not like the way her last words sounded... "Anna, what are you sayin?"

"Remy, I love you more than anythin' in this world, but you can't fix me...Ah almost ran off, because that's how Ah've conditioned mahself…Ah just run away from mah problems…Ah thought Ah'd be over that by now, but Ah still fall into mah old patterns…Ah don't know how to stick to things that are good for me 'cause Ah've had so many bad things happen to me…"

Remy's sinking heart stopped for a few seconds. The Professor's warning words from a few months ago about Rogue being extremely emotionally damaged started haunting his mind. He could feel the himself getting pale.

"Ah have been so unfair to you. Ah think it would be best if..."

He shut his eyes in anticipation of how she was going to end that sentence. When they first started dating, words like these were always followed by other words that would start the "off" period of their on-and off-again relationship.

Was this really happening?

Were they reverting back to old ways?

Had he pushed her too far again? He wanted to punch himself for the way he behaved last night. Instead of being angry, he should have been holding her all night. He scared her off…

Rogue turned to look at his sad face "Ah think it would be best if... I started seeing a therapist regularly."

Remy opened his eyes and let out a breath of relief. He squeezed her hand.

Rogue squeezed it back, "It's unfair to you the way Ah keep holdin' onto my insecurities from mah past. They have nothin' to do with you, an' Ah hate the way Ah scared you."

"No more more secrets, Anna...no more running away me..." Remy squeezed her body closer to himself and gave her a long kiss.

Rogue climbed into his lap and returned his kiss with a longer one. "No more lettin' my past define how Ah act in this relationship….No more runnin' away… Ah promise."

Remy leaned in for another kiss.

"Can you promise me somethin'?" Rogue asked him after a few more long kisses.

"Of course, Anna, my cherie…"

"We're gonna destroy Old Mags, aren't we? We are gonna destroy everythin' 'bout him…... Take away all his assets… his resources…his power…'Cause this isn't just 'bout revenge, Remy. This is 'bout you an' me takin' charge of our lives.."

"Have I ever broken a promise to you before, ma chere?" Remy kissed her forehead.

"No, you haven't." Rogue smiled and buried herself into his chest.

"You know what a very beautiful woman once said to me?" He asked her, "You are not predisposed, Mr. LeBeau."

Rogue's grin grew and she tightened herself more around Remy.

"You remember that?" Remy squeezed her tighter. " I was sittin' out in the field by the X-mansion just after we all found out who my real father was…That's the first time Scott had asked me to leave the team…Hell, the rest of the team couldn't even look me in the eye…They were so freaked out…an' you walked up to me like the angel you are…my angel …and you said that to me. You told me that you didn't care where I came from, who I used to be, or who my parents were…You loved me for who I was…because you didn't believe fate had damned me….you knew I was in charge of who I was going to be."

"That's right, Remy, honey." She kissed him on the cheek, " You an' Ah are not predestined to some horrible fate. Sometimes Ah feel like you an' are some sort of characters in a weird book somewhere…." She pointed to the sky above them….."An' there's one big writer up there….or maybe it's Fate up there too?…Or somebody who's just bored an' doesn't understand us…and they're all tryin' to break us up all the time…but you an' Ah are stronger than that big stupid pen they're writin' with. You an' Ah are gonna re-write our story….our way…."

* * *

The doorbell's sounds echoed loudly throughout Remy and Rogue's house.

"Rogue! Ace! Help me! It's an emergency!" Bobby's voice could be heard through the intercom.

Remy grumbled at having to pull himself away from Rogue's warm, soft, and naked body that was wrapped around his in bed. He rolled over to the security control panel next to the nightstand. He mumbled into the intercom, "Bobby, is dat you? What you want?"

There was no answer. Instead, the alarm for the fence went off. He watched Bobby on the security monitor as he fell after jumping the fence.

"Who's stealin' you from me at this hour?" Rogue asked as she rolled over. She admired her Cajun's body with her half-closed eyes.

" Looks like good ol' Bobby Drake is back for more" Remy replied as he put his pants on. "Let me go see what he-"

The sound of rocks being hurled at their half-opened window made Rogue sit up in bed.

"HELP!" He yelled. A spray of water shot into the room.

Remy ran out of the bedroom.

Rogue was furious. She wrapped a sheet around herself and opened the window all the way. "Bobby! What the hell? Calm down! Remy's gettin' the door!"

Bobby stared up at her with their hose in his hand. "I'm so sorry, Stripes….I had to get your attention. …"

"Bobby, are you drunk?" Rogue made a good guess. Remy grabbed the hose from him, while Bobby swayed back and forth.

"Yes, I am drunk …an' that's why it's an emergency…I need to be more drunk …and I can't buy more beer because I lost my wallet…they were in my pants….and I think I switched pants with somebody… So, I hope Consuelo is having a good time with my pants and my wallet."

"Bobby, how are you this drunk already at 8:30 in the morning?" Remy asked him.

Bobby's response was grabbing a rake.

"An' why are you trying to fight me with that?" Remy shook his head.

"Well, I'm not drunk already at 8:30 AM.…I've been drinking since 8:30 PM…." He then threw down the rake,  
" I'm so sorry I was going to fight you with this rake, Gambler. I'm so sorry…. You guys are so nice to me. I shouldn't have instigated that kind of fight….because it was wrong of me…and you are the ace of bo-staff fighting…When you started out, did you ever fight with rakes? Or brooms? Or mops….?" He looked down and examined his pants, "Hey you know what? These are my pants. Consuelo may have been imaginary"

Remy shrugged at Rogue to see if she had an answer for the situation. She only rolled her eyes.  
"Bobby, why don't you come on in and have some breakfast…?"

The three of them met inside the kitchen nook.

"Bobby, what in the world happened to you?" Remy asked him as he opened the fridge., looking for decent hangover food.

"I have had the worst fate bestowed upon me…" Bobby sighed.

"Ah think mah fate can top yours." Rogue shook her head.

"Huh?" Bobby scratched his head .

"Never mind, Bobby, why don't you have seat? Ah'll get you some water…"

Bobby fell over trying to sit on one of the kitchen stools.

"Bobby!" Rogue picked him up. " Please be careful." She was very concerned about her friend. She had seen Bobby drunk before, of course. He was usually silly and it was funny to laugh with him about his behavior. This wasn't silly drunk, though. He was clearly in an upset state.

"I just need to lie down…" He wandered into their living room and collapsed on their couch…"It's awful, Ms. Darkholme…"

Rogue frowned at him. " Please don't call me that, Bobby. Ah haven't been a Darkholme in ages…I legally changed my last name to my birth mother's maiden name a long time ago…"

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Rogue…..I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry…..so what is your real name then?" He asked.

Rogue ignored his question. "Bobby, what happened? "

"So, I left the Xmansion a few days ago…'

Remy came into the room, "Really. Why?"

"We all got into a fight about that space prison Magento rebuilt… Basteroid M.." Bobby sat up.  
" By the way, have you guys ever noticed how Storm has no sense of humor? She didn't get why I call it  
Basteroid M.."

"Basteroid M?" Rogue raised her eyebrow at Remy, " Are you talkin' 'bout Asteroid M?"

"Yes, see , you get it, Rogue," Bobby smiled, " NOBODY laughs at my jokes anymore in that place. Since you guys have been gone, the X-house has been like a Catholic school…except it's like Catholic school during Summer vacation…all the cute girls in short skirts are gone, and it's only all the quiet nuns hanging out and planning out their math lessons…"

"Basteroid M ?" Remy tried to bring Bobby back from his tangent. " You call it that 'cause Old Mags is a bastard?"

"Yes!…HOLY SHIT! Did you just say 'Old Mags' ? I love it! That's a great name!"

While Bobby laughed uncontrollably for the next few minutes, Rogue and Remy exchanged a long and nervous stare.

"Ah didn't realize…Ah didn't realize he already re-built it…." Rogue stood up from where she was sitting next to Bobby, and walked over to Remy.

Remy put his arm around her nervous body. He then continued to question Bobby, "Ok, so what  
about Asteroid M?"

"Well, the whole team is supposed to go up there in a few weeks.."

"In a few weeks?" Rogue exclaimed. Remy could feel her heart jump.

"Yeah, and since I hate eating food that comes in a tube , I told Cyco than I'm not going, and I left…and then…."

"Then what?" Remy asked.

"Well, that's when I found out…You know how Polaris and I….we took a break for a little while?"

"No, we didn't know that…you two broke up?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, it was while everything happened with you guys . Just before you left…..while I was away. She said she wanted to re-evaluate where our relationship was going…so she asked to take a break…" Bobby looked like he was going to cry. "So, that's why I reluctantly went back to the team….I thought it would take my mind off of her…But I've really missed her…So, I went to see her.. And…."

"…..And what?" Remy asked.

"She's working on a project not too far away from here…in Ohio… and that's how I ended up here in Chicago…I was already in the Midwest…." Bobby paused and looked like he was going to die while trying spitting out his next words, "It's the worst thing ever….."

"What?" Remy and Rogue asked at the same time.

"She admitted that she didn't want just a break…she didn't have the heart to tell me that she was really leaving me for somebody else….. SHE DUMPED ME FOR A SUMMERS BROTHER!" Bobby picked up a lamp , "I hate you, ALEX SUMMERS!" He hurled the lamp across the room. It hit the back door and fell intot a thousand little pieces.

Rogue shook her head at the mess it left and grabbed a broom.

"Can you imagine being dumped for a SUMMERS brother? " Bobby shook Remy. "She might as well be hooking up with Cyco!…How could my life get any worse?"

Rogue and Remy's heart went out to their friend, even though he had ruined one of their favorite lamps. They never saw Bobby upset like this. They looked at each other for help on what to say.

" I need to just be away from it all….your couch is so comfortable….Do you mind if I crash here for a few days?" Bobby mumbled as he pulled a pillow over his face.

Rogue shrugged her shoulders at Remy. They loved their friend, but also loved their privacy. They weren't sure how a house guest would interfere with all their plans.

"What do you think?" Rogue looked at Remy.

"I don't know, what do you think?" He whispered back to her.

They weren't given a chance to come up with an answer, as Bobby started snoring.


	9. Chapter 9

Bobby woke up to a hangover hunger attack. He was puzzled to why, until he looked at the coffee table, and saw the evidence of multiple Goose Island beer bottles and an empty bottle of Scotch.

He walked over to the kitchen. "SWEEEEEET!" He exclaimed at the note Rogue posted for him on the fridge.

"Bobby, Help yourself to any of our food. There's something special for you in the casserole dish. We won't be back 'til super late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Off doing things. Love, Your Auntie Rogue and Uncle Remy."

Bobby's eyes filled with joy when he discovered Rogue's famous dish: Her "Epic Mac-N-Cheese"… made with 5 cheeses…baked twice…topped with white wine garlic bread crumbs…

He found her roasted red pepper and tomato soup right next to it. He commented aloud to himself, "Mmmmm…. she added rosemary to her recipe now…mmmm…"

He then uncovered a large dish of Cajun-seasoned goodness Remy had thrown on the grill last night.

This was exactly the comfort food he needed….however , he also wished he had stayed awake last night to have chatted with his friends while they had prepared all this.

Bobby had spent his first full day at their place moping around the couch… then drinking more…  
then sobbing quietly on Rogue's shoulder and asking her to run her fingers through his hair for him like Polaris used to… then he moped around in the pool…then he busted into Remy's cabinet of expensive Scotch ….  
then he found where the Play Station was and turned on Rock Band….and then sang and danced to a bunch of terrible, awful, and hysterical rock ballads with Rogue…then Remy found the open bottle of his oldest Scotch and looked mad…and then Bobby tried to look innocent while pretending that he was asleep on the couch the whole time…..but he actually did fall asleep.

Bobby really could have gone anywhere. He could have paid his parents a visit back in Long Island. His mother complained that they never see him enough….but Bobby didn't get along very well with his father, who was still in denial of his son being a mutant.

Also, Bobby Drake was the type of person who needed constant change. He wanted to get away from the East Coast for a bit.

He had an apartment out in Los Angeles, where he lived for while after graduating from UCLA. However, he wanted a break from the West Coast as well.

He didn't think the Midwest sounded very exciting, but he had never been to Chicago. Staying with Rogue and Remy wasn't about saving money on a hotel room. It was about Bobby wanting some company.

Rogue was probably his best friend. Busting out a bunch of silly dance moves with her earlier in the day reminded him of their good old times. Before she started dating Remy, she used to fly out to L.A. a few times a year to hang out with him. Most of the other X-men didn't know about this, as Bobby was a very on-again-off -again X-man.

They would go out to clubs, sing karaoke, or sometimes they'd just stay in and watch really stupid You-Tube videos. They'd also dish to each other about their sex lives. Since then, Rogue was always the first person Bobby would call about a girl problem.

For Rogue, Bobby was a bunch of fun. She developed a small crush on him when they first started hanging out. However, he was very flaky with her. He'd bombard her texts and funny emails one week, but then he'd disappear for a few weeks. Sometimes he was totally there for her, and other times he was gone. When she tried to open to him about her past, he'd always find a way to change the subject. Sometimes, that's what made her feel a little judged by him. It was like he didn't want to ask anything deep about her, because he didn't want to know. He was a good escape, though. He was a fun escape from the team and an escape from herself. He just wasn't someone who could really help her .

Remy used to get very jealous watching the two of them. They could make each other laugh so hard, they'd be in tears. They had an infinite number of in-jokes that would often bust into random dance moves together.

Bobby gave him many "I'm going to kick your ass if you break my best friend's heart" speeches, while Remy gave Bobby "Stop flirtin' with my woman" death stares. However, they started slowly getting along through their fondness of poking fun at their fellow teammates, such as Cyclops.

Upon finding out that Bobby convinced Rogue to get back together with him during one of their break ups, Remy immediately decided Bobby was his best friend. Since then, the X-mansion had been doomed to twice the amount of their smart ass comments, pranks, and antics.

"Where are they now, anyway?" Bobby wondered out loud to himself after he finished eating.

He still wanted to talk to them more about what they were up to. However, a part of him was afraid to ask. At the last party, he brought up Sabertooth.

Rogue's response was laughter: "Thanks for the heads up about those satellite photos, Bobby. We're gonna make sure that the next time we meet with any Brotherhood members… or Sinister…. or Apocolypse , we'll do so where there is a roof above us…"

The day before Bobby left the X-mansion, he had overheard Emma talking to Scott about how Sabertooth's psyche dropped suddenly from cerebro. The only explanation is that he is either unconscious…or…..no longer alive  
Bobby raised an eyebrow at that thought and quickly restored to humor. He pulled out a paper and replied to Rogue's note, and reposted it on the fridge.

" Dear Aunt Sugar and Uncle Spice, The grub was awesome. Thanks for letting me have the house to myself. I only had a few ladies over while you were gone.. It would have been a shame if those twin shower heads in your bathroom went unused for too long …"

He giggled to himself and started roaming around the house. He spotted his cell phone outside on the patio and ran over to it. He hoped to find at least one missed call from Polaris. There were 6 missed calls, but none from her.

Bobby started listening to them as he roamed around in the backyard.

He deleted message #1 within the first few seconds of hearing Cyclops's voice : "ROBERT DRAKE. You need to report back to me immed-"

Message #2 wasn't listened to all the way either as it was Cyclops' voice again , "Robert Drake. You need to report back here and apologize to -"

Message #3 got Bobby annoyed. "Bobby, honey. It's your mom. Listen, this Scott Summers called me today, asking me if you've been by to see us. Did you leave the X-men again? Sweetie, I haven't seen you in so long, you should see us. Call me back. Love you!"

Something caught Bobby's eye from the garage. He jogged over to it while listening to message #4: "Iceman, it's Storm. Please call me back." Scott's voice could be heard in the background. " Scott, I'm trying to be the peacekeeper here and you ruining it! Oh, wonderful! Now I've ruined this voicemail message. How do I delete it and re-record it?" A bunch of shuffling noises ended the message.

Once in the garage, Bobby learned that his suspicion was true- It was indeed, the body of a beaten up old 1968 Dodge Charger.

Message # 5 played while Bobby's eyes glazed over the muscle car like he was a five year old looking at a giant piece of candy. "Iceman, it is Storm. Please call me back at your earliest convenience. The professor and I are concerned about you and where you are. We really need to discuss the Asteroid M situation with you."

Bobby had been a witness to Rogue and Remy's skills as mechanics. Remy loved bringing old beaten up cars back to the mansion's garage. The two of them would spend months restoring them into beautiful machines. Bobby got a little sad thinking about he and Polaris didn't have any hobbies like this that they shared. He shook the sad thought away and inspected all the car parts next to it, trying to make guesses at what cool features those two were going to install.

Black paint - Well, black is always a cool color for a car. …..Radar detector - That's a must for Rogue. She spent more time trying to talk herself out of speeding tickets than anybody he knew…..Bullet proof fiberglass- Ummmm. Maybe if the cops need to shoot at Rogue for speeding? …..A heat sensor? That was for…?

He stepped back, and then slipped backwards. He hit his funny bone on the garage wall. The vibration caused the door of a hidden control panel to open.

Message #6 revealed Cyclops' voice again. "Robert, this is to inform you that this is the last message that I or anybody from the mansion is leaving you…."

Bobby looked over at the control panel while Cyclops's voice continued to babble on the message.  
He realized it was the control panel for the alarm for the garage.

"Level 2?" Bobby muttered to himself. "There's a basement level to the garage?"

He was not the type to snoop. But his curiosity took over him. He pushed the button on the Level 2 monitor. The screen revealed that the 2nd level stored more car parts, machine pieces, and items that looked they could build giant weapons.

He shut his eyes, turned off the monitor, and walked out of the garage. He picked up his cell phone where he had dropped it, and Cyclops' message was still playing :

"You are a silly man, Robert. You think you're an adult? Going over there to the enemy and playing their video games all day and drinking scotch? You think Rogue really cares about you or all your problems with Lorna? She's using you!"

Bobby stopped himself from deleting the message. How did Scott know about every detail of his day yesterday? Any of the telepaths could use cerebro at any time to locate where he was. He wasn't surprised by Scott knowing where he was. How did he know all the little details about the day?

Someone had been in his head. He ruled out The Professor, as he always respected privacy and usually only scanned minds for feelings.

"Emma Frost?" Bobby asked out loud.

A few years ago , back when she was still with the Hellfire Club, she wanted control over Bobby's powers. So she took over his mind for a few weeks. Though it was long ago, he still hated the idea of her ever reading his mind again. In fact, he warned her to never do it again.

Rogue and Remy were his friends, and whatever it was they were up to, he decided it wasn't his business. He wasn't going to sell them out.

If it was Emma sneaking around in his head, this meant war. He is Robert Drake, afterall, the master of pulling pranks.

* * *

" That's good fighting, if you're a boxer from the 1930s!" Rogue yelled through microphone. Her voice was blaring through a speaker in the next room. "Y'all.." She quickly corrected herself and covered up her Southern drawl with a convincing Chicago accent, " You all look like the fucking Notre Dame leprechaun! Keep your fists closer to your body!" She then observed the two young men adjust their stance. "Ok, nice…now you'll have some power. Keep some weight in your feet and push from your hips….Ok…that's better…"

"Maybe you can come out here and show us?" One of the younger men said sarcastically.

"Nice try, Number 8. I'm staying up here. You stay down there. Now show me something decent."

"I have a name," he complained.

"No, you don't. None of you get your names back until you show me you deserve them. Number 8, lets see you take on Number 3. Let's go."

The boys started to fight.

Emil walked away from the two in the training room. He hiked the stairs and entered the room where Rogue was. She was peering at the boys through a tinted glass window. She could see them. They definitely could not see her.

"Ok, 'Ms. Collins' can tone it down a little bit." He rolled his eyes at her.

"I'm sorry, Emil." Rogue breathed out, " Ah shouldn't have interfered like that…it's just …it's been a few months since Ah've been in a good fight…" Rogue smiled at the training room below her. It reminded her of the Danger Room. Honestly, that was probably the thing she missed the most about being a part of the X-men. It was annoying to have to report to those Danger Room sessions at random hours. . . 7AM…..Noon…..or when she was hungry at dinner time at 5... Or at 2 AM just after she just fell asleep…But, she missed the thrill of it.

She and Remy had been so happy taking it easy the whole Summer. However, she could tell he was getting restless, like she was. Remy and she were natural thrill seekers. They kept up with working out. They had also instigated a few minor bar brawls just to keep up with their fighting needs. This mission of taking down Magneto was exactly what they needed to spice things up.

"Ah don't like Number 8." Rogue frowned at Emil. "He is definitely the best fighter, but Ah don't like how he's always challenging' me to come down there and face him. Do you think he's messin' with me? Or do you think he is suspicious to why I won't show mah face?"

"I think he's nervous 'bout who you are." Emil answered in his heavy Cajun accent. "All dese boys got kicked out de Guild last month for stealin' from it. ..can you believe dat? Thieves stealin' from thieves…."

"Ah guess when you get offered a huge paycheck for a job after that, by an anonymous stranger , it sounds too good to be true. The stranger not wantin' to show her identity adds a little spook to whole thing." Rogue continued to stare at the boys.

"Yeah, but dese boys are desperate. Dey are too scared to go back to N'awlins."

"You sure they have no idea 'bout you?"

"No they have no idea. 'bout me an' Remy bein' cousins." Emil smiled down at the boys.

"The Air and Water Show is happenin' this weekend." Rogue turned around to look at Emil. "There will be a lot of people downtown and a ton of noise from all the planes. Ah think it'd be a great time to test them out. ..you know, see how fast they can get in and out of a building. …I think Number 8 should drive… Number 1, 3, 4, and 6 are really good at fightin'. The rest I don't know…"

"Yeah, dey'll need a test. I'll take care of it and let you know." Emil agreed.

"Thanks, Emil." She smiled at him. " We're real anxious to get things goin' as soon as possible."

"I know, " Emil said softly back at her. He could see a hint of vulnerability in her eyes. All of his cousins grew up very close. They'd do anything for each other. "Remy told us everythin' you two learned. Theoron's gonna come up in a few days too and help with what he can."

"Ah really appreciate everythin' y'all are doin for me." Rogue flashed him another grin.

"Rogue, of course. We are a tight family and you're gonna be a part of it soon anyway." Emil nodded.

"Huh?" She tilted her head to the side.

"Oh nothing…" Emil looked flustered, "I mean, you're like a member of our family."

Their awkward silence was interrupted by the alarm system letting them know someone was entering the 2nd sub level.

" Is that Remy? " Rogue looked shocked at the security monitor. "How did he get back so fast? Excuse me, Emil." She exited the room and walked over to the other side of the empty warehouse. She entered the freight elevator and waited in frustration as it slowly descended down two more floors. She shoved open the doors.

Remy sat comfortably at a desk in the middle of the room. With his arms crossed and a smirk on his face he looked up at Rogue, "Miss me already, chere? Is somebody sufferin' from separation anxiety?"

"Yeah, Ah don't get to be separated from you enough." She rolled her eyes and poorly hid her smile.

Remy only laughed at her bad attempt to poke fun at him. He pulled her into a kiss.

" I can't believe you got to Baltimore and back so fast!" Rogue shook her head.  
"It may not be the Blackbird, but that jet we got our hands on is pretty fast. Once we put some extra features on it, it'll be pretty decent." Remy smiled at Rogue's face, which was full of anxiety.

"Well?" She asked in excitement, " Did you get them?"

Remy turned around and faced the computer. "Voila, cherie. You know I never disappoint."

Rogue watched Remy's eyes gaze proudly over the blueprints that appeared on the screen. A dark grin light up his face.

She loved that grin. It was one of the reasons why she fell madly in love with him so quickly. He flashed that sexy grin when he saw something he really wanted and he was ready to pursue it. It was a grin that would make her melt during their passionate moments. Her man always loved a tough challenge, and as he looked through all the security details on the map, he knew this was definitely a big one.

" Even with that access code, I had to do a lot of fast hacking." Remy boasted , " Hell, it was the fastest hacking I did… Got in an' outta there before Quicksilver got back."

Rogue didn't want to tear him away from his moment of admiring the challenge in front of him. However, he looked so incredibly stealthy….sexy…..and bad….

She began to massage his shoulders. " Ah didn't know you were such a great hacker…." She then ran her fingers along the spot on the back of his neck that he loved.

Though he had not looked up from the computer screen, a warm shiver ran Remy's body from Rogue's touch.  
" A great t'ief has gotta be great at all sorts of things…." He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"Ah can't wait to see how you pull this off. " Rogue peered over at the blueprints. She then pointed at the computer screen, "Like that hallway there…Remy, you'll only have 30 seconds to get that alarm off ."

" Not a problem, ma chere. I've gotten you off in 30 seconds before." He smugly responded.

Rogue pushed him playfully, " Ah'm pretty sure that was the other way around."

"We both know I've got more stamina than that.." He smiled without looking away from the computer.

"We both know how hot I make you." Rogue whispered in his ear and gave him a quick kiss on the neck.

"This sounds like a challenge." Remy rose from his seat quickly picked Rogue up. He flashed her that grin she found irresistible.

"Rem- Remy!" Rogue protested as he pinned her against a post in the middle of the room, "Anybody could walk in right in now."

Remy was too busy attacking her neck with kisses to respond. He showed his appreciation for the mini skirt she was wearing by traveling up it with his hand. She rarely wore skirts like these back at the mansion. Nowadays, she wore them almost all the time.

The door to the freight elevator shook, as somebody behind it tried to enter the room. Remy groaned in disappointment and Rogue pushed him away quickly.

"Hey Remy!" Emil entered, completely unaware of the situation he had almost walked in on. He gave his cousin a nod, " I thought you two would find this useful. " He handed Rogue a copy of a newspaper.

"What is this ?" She asked, still slightly out of breath.

"It's all the upcoming events in Philadelphia." Emil pointed at the page. " Look, dere's this benefit comin' up."

Remy looked over at it. " Rogue, there's an arts center opening next week. It's their grand opening gala. Their mission is promoting human and mutant relations through art. … Philadelphia isn't too far of a flight from Baltimore…..There'll be a lot of media at this …" He raised his eyebrow at Rogue.

"Aha, " Rogue smiled, " Is this our alibi?"

Remy's response was flashing her yet another devious grin.


	10. Chapter 10

The late morning sun rose over the lake and spilled its rays into the kitchen.

" Rogue, I'm serious." Bobby nodded. He had just woken up moments ago and came into the kitchen to join his friends for breakfast. He had stayed up late for them, but they returned after he fell asleep for the night. "Do you know why everybody is really pissed back at the mansion about you leaving? It's the dudes. They're all walking around scratching their balls crying about how they lost you as their eye candy."

"Bobby!" Rogue exclaimed as she looked up from her breakfast.

Remy didn't know if he should feel good for stealing away the hottest girl, or concerned about Bobby was trying to make moves on his woman. He almost slammed down his coffee mug.

" That's why everybody was always trying to get Remy out of the picture. They liked it better before he was around and you were this hot unattached thing…." Bobby looked up at the two of his friends. "You two haven't been to a poker night…. You haven't heard the things they talk about. There was a reason they didn't invite you, Remy."

"They all tol' me I was never invited 'cause I always won and took everybody's money all the time." Remy looked angry. " That's why I'm never invited to any poker nights anywhere. "

"Yeah, that's true too….. but they all liked sharing the sexy thoughts they had about Rogue that week." Bobby said casually as he bit into an apple.

"WHAT?!" Rogue exclaimed.

"Well , I've only been to two or three poker nights. So, I'm not sure if they only talk about you, Rogue, or if it's all the girls." Bobby continued. " I would have gone to more poker nights, but Wolverine pisses me off He has to be in charge of it and he enforces all these dumb ass rules. It's all a distraction because he's the one actually cheating. Remy, you of all people….don't you think that's the worst thing you could do? Cheat at poker?" Bobby looked over at him.

Remy shook his head and laughed, " No, cheatin' at Solitaire is worse….which I've seen Wolvie do too."

Bobby laughed really hard. " Anyway, Cyclops was really the worst offender. I overheard him telling Warren about how he's been having these frequent sexy dreams about you, Rogue. "

"What?! YUCK!" Rogue flashed Bobby a look of disgust.

"You're not dumping me for a Summers Brother." Remy hung his head.

"No way!" Rogue patted Remy's arm.

Bobby continued, "He said he didn't get the dreams when he was with Jean. Only since he's been with Emma. Funny, huh? She dresses like a porn star, but must be super dull in the sack."

"Bobby, are you jokin' around?" Remy asked.

" Nope." Bobby continued and took another bite out of his apple, " Let me pull up that memory in my head…" He said quietly and focused for a few moments.

"Bobby?" Rogue asked as she observed her friend's strange behavior. She snapped her finger in front of his face as he spaced out. "What are you doing?"

Bobby snapped out his trance and quickly scribbled a note on a piece of paper. He handed it to Rogue. He pointed at the mirror in the hallway.

Rogue went over to the mirror and realized the note was written backwards:

"I THINK EMMA IS READING MY MIND. I NEED TO CONFIRM. "

Rogue returned to the table and whispered the message to Remy. They both stared at Bobby with intensity.

"I shoulda broken that other arm of his when I had the chance." Remy mumbled angrily and wrapped his arms around Rogue's waist, "That little fucking prick. All that shit he let happen to you…and the entire time, he was secretly tryin' to hide his urges…." He gave her waist a forceful squeeze.

Rogue was a little startled by Remy's forceful embrace but smiled. She secretly loved it when he displayed his jealousy.

Robert ignored their affections and stared at his cell phone in anticipation…."One…two…three...four….five…."

An incoming call from Scott lit up the screen.

"Hi Scott…." Bobby tried to sound very surprised, " That's weird….I was just talking about you…."

"ROBERT! WHATEVER YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT ME IS A LIE!" Scott yelled in his ear.

"What do you mean?" Bobby asked innocently.

"You know what I'm talking about Drake! You and your thoughts made Emma upset at me!" Scott stopped before his next sentence. He realized that he was giving away the fact that Emma was creeping around in Bobby's head. " I mean- Emma can sense over here, that…um….. you think I'm a jerk, when I'm not…."

"Uh-huh…" Bobby smiled "Listen, sweetheart. I really hate it when we fight. I just am not sure that you sound sincere about not being such a jerk anymore. I need more than just your words. I need to see something that proves that you love me. "

Rogue and Remy laughed. Bobby grinned at finally having an audience who enjoyed his antics. They listened to his side of the conversation, trying to make sense of it.

"..Then why are you calling, Scott?…..What?….I told you I'm not going to Basteroid M. …" Bobby became annoyed. " Old Mags wants to talk to Storm and me? No way!" Bobby stood up from his chair and started pacing angrily. " Why…..because I don't want to be Santa Claus….. Do you know what I'm going to do to you if you if you screw me over on this?… Instead of giving you a lump of coal in your stocking, I'm going stuff your socks with dog crap and light them on fire….Yes, that's right, exactly like I already did to you the last two years for Christmas!" Bobby shut his phone off.

Rogue and Remy looked at him confused.

" Old Man Magento is gathering a council of mutants to help re-create the Earth's seasons up there. Storm is running it….They want me to help with Winter…That loser, Pyro, is going to help with Summer…..I don't want to be Santa Claus…. Remy, remember when we decided to grow our hockey playoff beards ? And you changed into a lumberjack? And I stayed my cute, but same self? Yeah, a beard on this face isn't happening. Children are going to be disappointed."

Rogue and Remy looked relieved to see Bobby finally take a deep breath.

Remy whispered something in Rogue's ear and she nodded. "Bobby, can we have a word with you, downstairs?"

"If you're going to kill me in the basement, I totally wanna come back as that creepy old woman from Evil Dead." Bobby said in a depressed and sarcastic voice. Rogue laughed at his movie reference.

He followed her and Remy down their stairs.

He watched Remy as he pushed a bookcase aside and revealed a hidden door. He opened it, and a big, metal room was revealed.

"This room is impenetrable to any telepathic activity. Nobody can read your mind in here…." Rogue explained.  
"Let's have a chat."

Bobby looked around the room in confusion. A few scanners and monitors were set up tracking some sort of frequency.

"Bobby, we wanna make you a deal …..Can you get us some information on Asteroid M?" Remy asked him. "You can name what you want in return."

Bobby's mood got serious. He looked at the somber look on his friends' faces.

"What are you up to?" He asked.

"Listen Bobby. " Rogue started to explain, " Remy has this theory that some mutants are immune to telepaths. The Professor , Emma….and Jean back in the day….none of them could ever help me with my thoughts or memories. They could only sense mah feelings. It's the same with Remy…so we've only been trusting each other…"

"Bobby, it's not that we don't want to tell you." Remy nodded, "We are afraid that if we tell you, Emma or any other telepath might extract the information from your mind. Rogue is in trouble... and we don't trust anybody right now..." Remy paused, "We're afraid of what will happen if…she ever gets on Asteroid M…and we want to make sure she never ends up there."

Bobby looked alarmed. , " Rogue, you're in trouble….what kind of trouble…?"

Rogue shook her head.

" No wait…Let me think of the smart way to ask this…." Bobby nodded and collected his thoughts. " Rogue, Remy….don't tell me anything. I don't want to know...what can I do to help?"

* * *

Everything had gone exactly as planned.

They double checked the map of Magneto's compound before even entering it. It matched exactly.  
The three buildings, Building A, B, and C, stood exactly where they were supposed to.

As they snuck into Building C, all the alarm systems were exactly where they were on the map. All the codes to deactivate them on the first floor were perfect.

Micah , a.k.a. Number 8, deactivated the final alarm on the second floor. Roger, Number 5, watched his back as he did it. He then beckoned Claude, a.k.a Number 3, and Louis , Number 4 to come into the room as soon as it was safe.

They double checked the room for more alarms and nodded that it as safe.

Chris, Number 1, ran in last and out of breath, " I just wasted that last robot guard on the first floor. Let's hurry!"

Outside, Jesse, Number 6, and Guy, Number 2 waited in the getaway car. Number 8 had offered them a larger share of his pay if they switched their spot with him. Ms. Collins wasn't going to be around for the job, so they decided to do it.

All the boys looked at each other. They were ready for the last step. After all their training the last 2 weeks, and passing their "test" downtown, they were ready for this last step. Everything was perfect.  
Number 8 stared at the prize in the middle of the room. He punched in the code, and the glass casing around it opened.

There it was- the world famous Genoshan Diamond that they were hired to steal.

Number 8 stroked his gun in his pocket. He was going to keep it for himself , and he was prepared to take down his accomplices if he had to.

He grabbed the diamond slowly and turned to look at the rest of the boys with joy. They looked relieved. It was all almost over.

Then something happened they weren't expecting. This was something not in the plan.

Another alarm went off.

They all started cursing each other and looking at Number 8 for help.

"I deactivated all the alarms!" He exclaimed.

As they tried to escape, the alarm got louder.

On the other side of Magneto's compound, standing on top of the roof of Building A, Rogue and Remy smiled at each other. Everything was going exactly as they planned.

The boys' anonymous boss, "Ms. Collins" never bothered to tell them that the diamond had a tracking sensor on the bottom of it. As long as they ran with it, the police were going to find out exactly where they were.

"Alright, girl, do what you do." Remy grinned at his sexy accomplice.

"Don't mind if Ah do." Rogue grinned back at him. With little effort, she punched down the reinforced steel door in front of them.

Remy raced down the stairs to check the first security control panel. He smiled smugly. It was exactly as he predicted.

"Are we dark down there?" Rogue called after him. She was still standing guard by the busted door.

"Yeah, chere. Come on in, the water's just fine." Remy encouraged her. He quickly started punching in codes into the security panel. "I just got us an extra 15 minutes without power. We'll probably only need 'bout 5 of those…"

Rogue turned the flashlight on her wrist band and the two ran down the hallway.

Magneto was known to the public as one of the most intelligent mutants in the world. He was multilingual. He was also a genius in the field of engineering, physics, and space technology. The man had built his own colony on an asteroid and successfully put it in orbit.

This made him arrogant, and this was his flaw. Were he a little less confident in himself, he would allow a little fear that somebody might try to manipulate his security system. If he weren't so vain, he'd account for the one weakness his system had: Remy LeBeau.

After only studying his system for a day, Remy did indeed find a major system error.

Magneto's most prized possession was the Genoshan Diamond. Were someone to figure out how to bypass all the sophisticated security around it, and actually rip it of its pedestal, he/she would not be able to leave the building with it. Magneto programmed an extra jolt of power to run to Building C from the compound's main security system. The extra power would shut down all the windows and doors, trapping the thief inside.

That weakness in the system was where that extra jolt of power came from. Were Magneto a little more paranoid, he would have built an extra generator to just supply that kick.

Instead, in order to supply that extra power surge to Building C, the compound's energy core would borrow the power from the other two buildings. This meant that once the alarm on the diamond was triggered, Building A and B would lose its power for approximately 2 minutes, while Building C got its extra jolt.

Being the skilled hacker he was, Remy learned all of Magneto's codes, and he was able to program in some extra minutes of power loss just as the system started rebooting.

"Here it is. " Remy looked at a wall. "Chere, stay back. " He felt around for the metal part of the beam, being careful not to charge that part with his powers. He put his hand on the wall and ran back towards Rogue. They took shelter from the explosion.

As they planned, by charging the wall, only the metal beams of that part of the building remained. It made jumping down multiple floors must faster.

They descended quickly into the vault four floor below. Rogue quickly punched a hole through the wall. The night air rushed in. "Got our exit secured, hon."

Remy nodded his approval and looked around the vault. The light coming in from the hole Rogue just punched in illuminated their prize.

There it was. Their real target.

They didn't care about that Genoshan Diamond. They had trained those young criminals, who had betrayed the Guild, to make a perfect distraction for them. They'd get arrested. If questioned, they'd snitch on "Ms. Collins", the boss they had never met.

What Rogue and Remy wanted, stood right there before them. There it was:  
It was Magneto's De-Ager.

Magneto was well over 80 years old. However, he always looked like he was only 40. That was thanks to his De-Ager. He used every few years to restore his older body into a younger physique.

Remy grabbed it and looked at his watch. "Perfect. We got 10 minutes to spare. "

"That's just enough time. " Rogue smiled deviously at her Cajun. She shoved him backwards onto a table.  
"You asked why Ah didn't change outta mah cocktail dress form the Gala earlier…"

It was hard to take Remy LeBeau by surprise. However, Rogue could always do it. His eyes widened as she yanked off her panties and unzipped his pants at the same time.

"Anna, chere," Remy whispered to Rogue as she straddled him. " We only got 9 minutes…."

" Just enough time for a real quick one….Let's give Old Mags our big 'fuck you' …Literally…" She gave his earlobe a playful bite.

Remy could see the power slowly coming back on in the building next to them. The sound of police sirens were getting louder. But, the sound of Rogue panting in his ear was even louder.

He pulled her closer to himself so he could feel her heartbeat. It was pounding with just as much danger and excitement as his was.

Though this moment was the riskiest thing they could do, and so incredibly stupid, he couldn't think of anywhere else he'd rather be. Mixing the adrenaline rush he got from stealing with the pure passion he had for Rogu,e was a high he had never felt before in his life.

He looked up at his Sex Goddess while she made love to him. He ran his hand along her arched back and moaned her name. He admired her beauty for as long as he could. Which, according to his watch, he only had 2 minutes remaining to do so.


	11. Chapter 11

" It's only symbolic. " Emma said to Scott as she looked at herself in her compact. "You have been very stressed out with the all the responsibility that you have. Secretly, you wish somebody else was in charge, so it wouldn't have to be you."

Storm's tapping on the driver's side window interrupted her analysis.

"Yes?" Scott asked as he rolled down the window .

" The Professor said we should all join him for the meeting now." Storm informed him.

"Ok, we'll be right out." Scott nodded at Storm, who started walking inside the building.

"As I was saying…" Emma started unbuckling her seatbelt . "Your dreams represent that loss of control you secretly want. You've mentioned that you've always been intimidated by Rogue , so it's natural that she'd represent that strong force in your dreams."

"Emma, you are brilliant." Scott smiled and grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry I didn't come to you with this before…I was so embarrassed."

"It's fine Scott." Emma smiled at him. "It means nothing else." As she followed her re-assured boyfriend out of the car, she hid a frown. Though she believed the dream analysis she had just explained to him, she was still pretty annoyed with Scott's dream. She never liked Rogue, and was determined to find out she was up to.

They walked into the large factory's main building.

"Is that Robert I hear?" Scott said to her as they entered the lobby.

"Yes…Scott, don't let him get to you. " Emma put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm still keeping tabs on his mind. Now, don't slip up and let him know that I'm doing that. He really doesn't have any idea of what Rogue and Gambit are doing. They'll have to slip up with him at some point, though, and I'm going to scan him for that information."

Scott nodded and they joined The Professor, Storm and Bobby in the lobby.

"So, the prodigal son returns.." Scott commented.

"Don't flatter yourself, honey." Bobby rolled his eyes. "I only agreed to this meeting because The Professor asked me to hear out Magsy's plan out. I'd rather be doing anything else today, including drinking gasoline, than looking at your face. Maybe this will help…" Bobby pretended to take his contact out of his eye.

"Robert! Don't get on my nerves! " Scott exclaimed. Emma shook her head at him. Scott, then smiled " Oh, by the way, Robert…I talked to my brother yesterday…. Alex says 'hello' ."

Bobby breathed out furiously," Even with my contacts out, that face of yours is still grotesque. Why don't you go back to the car and get that paper bag Emma makes you wear over your face when you have sex? I'd like to get through this meeting without vomiting at the site of it! "

Cyclops tried to throw a punch, but Emma grabbed his arm.

"Stop it!" Storm exclaimed, "Stop it right now! We are about to start!" She had been standing near The Professor at the receptionist's desk. She turned to Bobby. " Iceman, please behave."

"I am….Oh, look . Free coffee!" He started pouring himself a cup from a table near the receptionist.

"We are going in now." The Professor announced.

"Iceman, you'll have to drink that fast." Storm informed him.

" What are you talking about ? I was planning on bringing it in with me." Bobby shrugged.

"It looks rude." Storm shook her head at him.

" No, It makes me look casual. "

"Exactly. You are also dressed like you are going to the beach." Storm continued.

"Yeah, " Bobby rolled his eyes. " It's because I AM going to the beach after this. Sorry I didn't dress up for His Majesty like you all did….I wonder if I have any gum I can chew loudly…." He patted his pockets.

"Let's go." The Professor called out.

Everybody followed him and entered the conference room. Magneto and Pietro greeted them all.

"Thank you all for coming here to the factory. " Magneto welcomed everybody, "I am glad that you are all here to listen. Rebuilding Asteroid M was a decision I made a few years ago, after I lost my last hope in humanity. I believe in a brighter future for mutants that is separate from this world. Many mutants have been assisting me with the realization of this dream and I appreciate your-"

Bobby interrupted Magneto's sentence by clearing his throat loudly. " Can I ask how the Brotherhood has been assisting you with Bast- I mean Asteroid M?"

Everybody shot him a disappointed look for his rudeness.

"The Brotherhood has broken away from me years ago. " Magneto looked away. " Mystique has taken them over. Pietro, Wanda, and I have no affiliation with them."

" Wow, that doesn't sounds like a lie…" Bobby whispered to Storm, who shook her head. "What about Pyro?"

"He is no longer affiliated with the Brotherhood either." Magneto started to pace the room.

"That also doesn't sound like a lie." Bobby whispered to Storm who folded her arms and looked away.

Magneto heard the sarcastic remark. "I understand your apprehension, Mr. Drake. I have done many things in my life to warrant suspicion. Asteroid M is my chance to start a new life. It is a chance for all mutants to start a new life. I know this is the right decision, because the anti-mutant humans are getting scared. They are getting desperate to destroy us. A group of them tried to steal my Genoshan Diamond from me a week ago. They were caught, thankfully….However the thieves who stole my De-ager are yet to be found."

"Your De-ager? Somebody stole your De-ager?" Cyclops asked. He raised his eyebrow at The Professor.

"Yes," Magneto continued. " It was probably meant as a ironic joke to me. Now, that I finally have the chance to spend my life in peace, it will be a short life."

The Professor nodded at Cyclops. He could read his thoughts. During his time with the X-men, Gambit had brought up taking the De-Ager away from Magneto a few times. His reasoning was that since Magneto was a constant threat, why not take away his power of rejuvenating? Why not make him age and eventually die like anybody else would? The Professor always shot down the suggestion. When it came to Magneto, he wanted the X-men to focus on defense, not offense.

"When did this happen, Eric ?" The Professor asked.

"One week ago. On the 16th, to be exact."

Emma could read the thoughts between Cyclops and The Professor. She immediatley scanned Bobby's mind for his memories.

Bobby felt her creeping in his mind, and smiled. He was ready to begin his revenge. Rogue had coached him on how to control his mind when telepaths were trying to take over it. He took a deep breath and pulled up a memory in his head. It was of Rogue and Gambit getting ready to leave for Philadelphia.

Then he added in a fake memory:

Remy gave Bobby a set of keys.

"Can you house-sit for us? While we go to Baltimore?"

"I thought you were going to Philadelphia." Bobby asked him .

"Yes, Yes, that's what I meant." Remy looked nervous.

Bobby projected the feeling of suspicion.

He saw Emma smile from across the room, and he did everything not to smile himself.

Bobby tried to concentrate on Magneto, who had been talking for the last few minutes. They had all exited the conference room and were now walking through the factory, where all the parts for the colony on the asteroid were being built.

Bobby reminded himself of his mission: It was fulfilling a promise he made to his friends. He needed to find out everything he could about Asteroid M that Rogue and Remy had asked him for.

"So, Magneto." Bobby took a sip of his coffee. " When do we get a tour of the space station and shuttle going to Asteroid M?"

Magneto looked directly at Bobby. " I will gladly give you a tour the facility. There is one condition- I want you to bring a guest with you."

"Who….?" Bobby's heart skipped a beat. He dreaded him mentioning Polaris. Having similar powers, Polaris had become interested in connecting with Magneto the last few months of their relationship. Bobby hated the idea.

"Rogue." Magneto said her name slowly , like it was the name of a dessert.

"Rogue?" Bobby's heart skipped another beat.

" Since she ran away from the flock, Charles here has not been able to reach her. I know you two are close….and you have seen her recently." Magneto continued. "Her super strength would be very useful to a few projects I have ."

Bobby looked at him blankly.

Magneto then pulled him to the side, so they were out of earshot from the Professor, Storm, and Cyclops. " Mr. Drake, this will be very favorable for you. We can all board Asteroid M with all the mutants of the world….except for one…. We will leave behind that dirty Louisiana bastard that has suctioned himself to her like a leech. He will be left behind millions of light years away. She will be all yours, millions of light years away."

" Whoa! Wait ! You think I'm in love with Rogue?" Bobby exclaimed so loudly that everybody heard him.

Storm, The Professor, and Cyclops all looked at Bobby like they were watching a shocking moment in a soap opera.

"I know about you two. " Magneto continued. " ….All those trips she took to see you in Los Angeles….All those dates you went on….."

Bobby dropped his jaw. He was officially creeped out. Was Magneto stalking them? Why?  
" I love Rogue. " Robert said to him, " I love her like my sister. I don't remember what century you said you were originally from, Magsy. But, it's 2013 now. A man and a woman can be super close friends without... how would somebody you age say it…oh , yes, 'courting. ' "

"Robert!" Storm shot him a look.

Bobby bit his lip, tried not to laugh, and became angry with himself. He promised himself he wouldn't be a smart ass. ..but he just couldn't help it. He had to stick to his promise.

Magneto looked like a scientist whose experiment just went horribly wrong. He changed the subject."If Rogue comes on Asteroid M, there is something advantageous for her. I can help her with her powers. I have a theory that the magnetic field I can produce up there can help many mutants like her with controlling their powers."

"Oh, she doesn't need your help with her powers. She's got those under control now." Bobby said casually as he took another sip of his coffee.

"What!" Magneto yelled.

"Oh, yeah she's touching whoever she likes now." Bobby informed him.

Magneto grabbed Bobby by the collar violently.

"Eric!" Charles yelled.

"I don't understand…" Magneto released Bobby, and still looked angry. "What happened to her powers?

"Why are you concerned about Rogue's powers?" The Professor asked.

Bobby looked suspiciously at Magneto, with the same question in his head that The Professor just asked.

"I just need her help, and I hope her powers are the same." Magneto shook his head.

Bobby still looked at him with suspicion and kept on his mission : "Ok, I will ask her... what date are we boarding all our space pods?"

* * *

Theoren Marceaux nodded at his cousin. " Remy, you were right." He then smiled at the small capsule he had pulled out of the De- Ager a few days earlier. He lifted it up and handed it to Jean- Luc. "It's pretty watered down, but after testing it. . . . dis is definitely is it."

" Remy. . . ."Jean-Luc shook his head in disbelief . "Where did you get dis? . . How did you pull dis off?"

" Anna and I did. " Remy replied. "We stole it from Magneto."

"Magneto?" Jean- Luc broke his stare off the capsule for the first time. " He had it?"

" When I found out how old he really was, I thought 'bout all of us in the Guild who are agin' gracefully. I didn't think dere really was a connection. . .But, then I started researchin' him. Turns out he started de-agin' himself just around the time the rumors started dat dere was a hidden stash of the elixir . . .I wondered if dere was a reason nobody ever found it . . maybe it was stolen .. . . ."

The elixir of youth was a precious treasure to the Thieves Guild. When ingested, it extended the life of its drinker. As a part of his/her right of passage, each Thieves Guild member drank it.

Remy was not exempt from the ritual. He had taken the elixir. Because he was still only 31 years old, no one could physically see the effects of it yet. Its when he hits 50 or 60, and still looks like his current 31, then it will be apparent.

The Thieves Guild assumed that the last of the elixir was gone years ago, after Remy had used it on his then - wife, Bella Donna when she was dying. However, rumors spread that an older member of the Guild hid a secret stash somewhere in New Orleans.

" Dad, the secret stash belonged to your father. He buried it before he died. Magneto had someone steal it. " Remy continued . " I wanted to bring it back to the family. . . It belongs to us. Dere's not much left, but I figured we could hide it, just in case we need it . . ."

"Remy, dis is de most important t'ing you ever stolen." Jean Luc responded in shock.

Remy smiled at his father's approval. He thought back to their difficult past. Jean-Luc adopted Remy when he was ten, and raised him like his own. He took him in off the streets and taught him how to fight. However, Jean-Luc also taught Remy how to be a criminal. In fact, he served time in jail a few times covering for his father and the Guild's mistakes.

Jean-Luc was the one who led the vote for Remy's exile out of New Orleans. He had done so to keep the peace between the Thieves and Assassins after Remy killed Bella Donna's brother in self-defense.

The exile ended when Remy came back to save Bella Donna with the elixir. Immediately, Jean-Luc started pressuring his son to return and take over the Thieves Guild. Remy still felt annoyed that his father had the audacity to set up an expectation, after betraying him.

Rogue was the reason Remy started changing his feelings towards his strained relationship with his father. Also resenting a parent who had adopted her, Rogue was able to relate to Remy. When she met Jean-Luc, she told Remy that she saw a man who had made some mistakes, but was truly sorry for any pain he had caused his son. It wasn't like that with Mystique. That woman never apologized for any of her actions and was still a constant source of terror in her life. Over the past year, Remy slowly started speaking to his father again. Learning about the torment Rogue had overcome with both her father and foster mother made him feel lucky that he never endured something similar.

Also, upon finding out his real father was Mr. Sinister, Remy decided to not accept the truth. He only wanted to recognize Jean-Luc as his father. His family drove him crazy, but underneath it all, they loved each other, and were better than a murdering villain.

" Nobody can know we have it." Remy continued. " You gotta hide it. . . I'm afraid the X-men might suspect me. I'd suggested we take it from Magneto before. . . .but they wouldn't do it."

" Of course. . .it'll be just another family secret." Jean Luc nodded. "You've done real well, Remy."

"I just ask for one thing, if I can have some of it.. . ."

"Do you mean you are gonna offer it to someone?" Jean Luc asked, but he already knew the answer.

" Yes." Remy nodded at his father and cousin, who were grinning at him. " I'm gonna outlive Anna. . . .and I can't imagine my life without her . . . I'm gonna ask her to take some of it."

" Of course " His father nodded. "Just let me know when and we'll have it ready."

"Tonight."

"Tonight?" Jean-Luc asked

"Yes, I'm gonna ask her tonight. I don't want to wait longer." Remy breathed out nervously.

"Ok, we'll get everything ready. It'll be like old times." Marceaux patted Remy's back.

Remy nodded again and left the room. He descended the stairs and found Rogue in the kitchen. It was dark, and only lit with candles. Incense filled the air. Tante Mattie and Rogue were seated around the table, putting away a deck of tarot cards. Mercy was slowly blowing the candles out and turning on the lights.

Remy paused to admire them in their moment. All three women were laughing and looked very happy.

Tante Mattie had raised Remy. He considered her his mother. Since the day he introduced Rogue to her, the two had an immediate bond. They both respected and admired each other as strong women.

Mercy was Remy's sister -in-law. When his brother died, the family encouraged her to stay close with them. She felt so welcomed that she decided to carry on her husband's name and became the first female member of the Thieves Guild. Though she and Rogue were only just recently becoming good friends, their bond was getting thick .

Remy could tell Rogue missed having female companions, so it always made him smile to watch her with the women in his family.

"Excuse me ladies. I was hopin' I could steal away the Mississippi girl, if you're done with the fortune tellin." Remy finally spoke.

All three women looked up at him. Tante Mattie got up from her seat , "As long as you're not plannin' to get my girl into trouble."

"Oh, you know me….trouble has a way of findin' me. Though, I think an innocent walk over to Jackson Square sounds pretty innocent." Remy held out his hand to Rogue , "What do you say, Anna?"

"I say nothing is ever innocent about you, Remy LeBeau." Rogue laughed. He kissed her hand and led her out of his father's house.

The last of the sun's face set over the city of New Orleans. Rogue looked up at Remy while they strolled down Royale street on their late evening walk.

She hadn't seen much of him for the past week. He had been busy fulfilling his side of the deal that he made with his father regarding helping run Thieves Guild business. She had originally suggested she stay in Chicago and start planning out their next step with Magneto while Remy helped his father for the week. However, a few phone calls from Tante Mattie made Rogue change her mind.

She was just as in love with Remy as she was with New Orleans.

In her eyes, he and the city were the same entity.

Just like Remy LeBeau, everything about New Orleans was different and more exotic  
than anything she had ever experienced.

She breathed in the city. Its air was just as deep and mysterious as her man.

She could smell the hot and spicy aroma of authentic Cajun food as they passed up  
a few restaurants. Their flavors were just exciting as the taste of his lips.

The humidity was heavy, like Remy's tight embrace around her. Combined, they  
both made her want to slow down the pace of her walk.

The narrow streets were dark and warm, and reminded her of his eyes.

As Remy's old friends passed by him, Rogue listened to his speech. It was always slower  
in his hometown, the same way the Mississippi River let itself be lazier this far South.

His voice was low as the bass of the jazz music peaking out from  
every other bar up the street.

"Anna?" Remy's voice snapped her out of her daze. "What are you t'inkin 'bout, my chere?"

Rogue smiled. "Just admirin' how much heavier that Cajun accent of yours got since we've been here,  
mon amour*" (*my love)

"Mon amour?" He laughed at how cute she looked when she said that. Her eyes were deeply fixated on him  
and she almost looked like she was lost in another world.

Then in her habit of surprising him, Rogue leaned into him , " Ah can't wait to in hear more of that that accent in my  
ear later tonight."

Remy stopped dead in his tracks to squeeze her body tight. He gave her a deep and passionate kiss. "Not fair talkin' to me like dat when dere's no cold shower 'round." Rogue let out a deep breath as he gave her neck a playful bite.

He deepened his voice and stared into her eyes passionately. "I'm not de only one whose Southern drawl comes out cuter down here, ma moitie."

Rogue leaned her head on his shoulder as he led them towards Jackson Square.  
"Moitie?...That's a new one...doesn't that mean...half?"

"Yeah...Why are you always so shy 'bout your French.? It's good. Moiti means my other  
half. Now, dat we've stolen together, I know for sure that you're my soulmate."

"Oh, Remy." Rogue laughed and kissed his cheek. "My moitie…"

They strolled past all the art vendors. A fortune teller winked at Rogue to come over.

Rogue squeezed Remy's hand, " No business for her from me tonight... Tante Mattie already read mah tarot."

"Anythin' in dere 'bout fightin' off magnetic villiains?" Remy joked.

Rogue laughed. "Sort of.. she did a real quick 3 card draw."

"Which ones did you get?"

"The first was the Queen of Cups, then The Tower, then the Wheel of Fortune."

"Dose are great cards."

"Since when are you into Tarot? You throw those around too?"

" I like Tarot cards too.. . Dey aren't made to throw around...The first one, The Queen of Cups is you."

"I thought Ah was the Queen of Hearts." Rogue pulled on the charm of her necklace. Remy had bought it for their anniversary last year. It was a tiny silver playing card with the Queen of Hearts on it. Remy was always buying  
her gifts with that theme.

Remy flashed a big smile at the charm, " I'm so glad you wore dat tonight."

"Of course I did." Rogue smiled. He stopped walking and stared at her for a while. Rogue smiled at him in his daze. "Are you ok, Rem?"

"Of course..." Remy looked nervous.

"Remy? What's wrong?"

He looked at his watch , "We should keep walking...The Queen of Cups is the equivalent of the Queen of Hearts in the Tarot deck...The Tower is a sign of somebody or something' major bein' overthrown...and the Wheel of Fortune, dat represents you gettin' a choice to spin your life to whichever direction you want..."

"Wow, that is a great reading..." Rogue smiled. "It's me takin' charge of mah life...changin' mah destiny."  
Do you think Tante Mattie pulled those on purpose?"

"No, she would never do that."

"Wanna see a card trick?" Another vendor yelled at them.

"C'mon, let's check dis guy out...he t'inks he's good." Remy beckonned Rogue over to the table.

Rogue followed him over and watched the man pull out some impressive card tricks.

It took the man a few moments to notice Remy. "Remy LeBeau! Since when you back in town?"

He and Remy shook hands. "Nice to see you, Marquise."

"Likewise, Remy. …and Who dis femme jolie with you?"

"Ah, she's de Queen of Hearts..." Remy smirked at Rogue.

" Ladies and Gentlemen, we got a real treat here! De one an' only Remy Le Beau! Let's see if he wanna take the stage right now."

Remy laughed, "If you insist, Marquise."

Remy performed a few card tricks to the small crowd assembling around them.

"Time for my best trick of all..." He reached into his left shirt pocket and pulled out a  
deck. He leaned into Rogue. "You an' I been changin' our future a lot, ma Chere...  
but one thing we can't change is the fact that you were destined to be a Queen..."

Rogue flashed him a confused look.

Remy laid out all four Queen cards and motioned Rogue to choose her  
card " However, we got de power to change whose Queen you become..."

Still confused, Rogue pulled the Queen of Hearts card.  
There was someting heavy taped to the back of it. She flipped it over and saw  
a ring. The small crowd around her gasped.

Her heart started beating so fast she could barley hear. It's like the world  
was both standing incredibly still, and zooming by fast.

She watched Remy get down on one knee and un-attach the ring from  
the card. All the women in the crowd were gawking.

"Anna, you make me so happy... Will you be my wife?" He looked straight into her eyes.

Rogue stared back at him speechless, in her shock.

They had never talked about marriage. She had pictured them together forever,  
but never knew if Remy wanted to be official. He still seemed jaded from his first marriage.

"Anna...?" Remy let out a nervous breath.."Um...please say somethin' ."

She felt bad for having been so silent and once again, scaring him. So, to lighten the mood,  
she put her right hand on her hip and stuck out her left hand. In that sassy voice that  
made Remy fall madly in love with her in the first place, she replied:

"Well, Cajun? Are you gonna stay on that knee all night? Or are you gonna get that ring on mah finger before Ah change mah mind?"

Remy laughed very loud and quickly found the diamond-encircled emerald its new home on her finger.

The crowd around them cheered as wrapped themselves into each other's arms and kissed passionately.  
They cheered louder as Remy wiped away the small tear of joy sneaking out of Rogue's eye. He took her by the hand  
and led her away from the crowd with the biggest smile he had ever had

Rogue smiled down at the ring, "Rem, you know me so well….you know how much Ah love emeralds!"

"I know…dey match your eyes." Remy put his arm around her.

"Je t'aime ." Rogue looked deeply into his eyes.

"Je t'aime aussi." Remy responded . They shared one more kiss before Remy had them sit down on a bench in the middle of Jackson Square. "Anna, I have something else to ask you."

"What is it?" Rogue asked, as she stared at her left finger.

"I was right about the elixir. It was inside the De-Ager." Remy began to explain.

"Oh?" Rogue was still enamored with her ring.

"Anna…we need to talk about the inevitable….I am going to live a long time…and you are goin' to start agin'. I want you to take some of it. "

"What?" Regue stopped staring at the ring. Her heart sank. " Was this the whole plan? You told me you just wanted to steal it for your family!

"Anna-" Remy tried to interrupt her, but Rogue continued.

"What are you tryin' to say?" Rogue was getting upset, " You want me to take it so Ah don't get gray hair? You 're not goin' to love me when Ah get wrinkles?"

"Anna !" Remy grabbed her by both of her shoulders. " I love you unconditionally…no matter how old you are…or what you look like. But you've just agreed to spend the rest of your life with me. I can't spend the rest of my life with you, because I will outlive you. I want you take it so we can age slowly together."

"Oh, Remy " Rogue jumped into another kiss with Remy. " Of course Ah will, Sugah."

"Good. Now, before we go back to my apartment, let's stop by my dad's place. They have it waitin' for you."

They stood up from the bench and Rogue smiled, "I'm so excited that I'm going to be a part of your family, Remy."

A dark voice startled the both of them "As am I, Rogue….I am so glad you will be a part of the family."

Remy's widened at the tall man in front of them.

Rogue grabbed his arm and whispered, "Who is this?"

"What are you doing here?" Remy asked.

"Oh, just paying you a friendly visit. I wanted to congratulate you on your big success with Magneto." He continued.

Rogue stared at him. He looked out of place. Then again, this was New Orleans, a city full of eccentric characters. It wasn't too uncommon to run into people who looked like 19th century vampires.

"GET AWAY! " Remy yelled. He pulled a card out and charged it.

"Easy now. I am not here to harm you…..

"Rogue, dear, I am Nathaniel Essex. "

Remy pulled Rogue so she stood behind him. He was one of the few people who saw this Nathaniel Essex in his disguised human form.

Rogue was ready for a fight. Remy looked over at her. " Rogue. Please, stay back. He's in disguise. ..It's Mr. Sinister. "

Rogue's heart jumped and her body started to tense.

" When I heard about that robbery , I had a feeling that my son must have been involved. So, I bailed out some of those boys. It was very smart the way you tricked them…I had a hard time getting information from them, because they really didn't know anything. Except that Micah….'Number 8' ..he offered me a lot of information."

Rogue swore to herself in her mind. She should have kicked that trouble maker out when she had the chance.

"He offered to let me scan his mind. When I did, I recognized Emil, your cousin. I put it all together, my son. Only you could have been swift enough to plan a steal like that… and given what I know about the diaries…"

"You know 'bout the diaries?" Remy grinded his teeth.

"Oh yes, " Mr. Sinister continued, " What a terrible fate for Rogue." He looked over at her. She could see the same red on black eyes that Remy had. However, Mr. Sinister's gaze was empty and cold, unlike the cozy and warm stare Remy had.

"What do you want?" Remy yelled.

Mr. Sinister continued studying Rogue. " She should end up with you, dear son. Her genes are stunning. She's the perfect mate for you….She'd continue our perfect bloodline…I don't like Magneto. He thinks his son will take over this world. I disagree. Mine will…and my grandchild will take over after that."

" I don't want anything to do with you." Remy replied flatly.

"That's why I've come here. I wanted to remind you that you are destined for something better. You are my son, and there is great power inside you waiting to take you over. You and I have the same enemy. Join forces with me, and we will defeat him. You will become powerful. Your fiancee will be safe."

"Never! " Remy shook his head, "I'd never join you."

"You will, son. Very soon. It's in Destiny's diaries…..there is an entry in the near future, where you come to me, son. Just like you did the first time, when you needed help with your powers. You come to me again for help, and we make another deal."

"No! " Remy threw his charged card at Mr. Sinister. He quickly got jumped out of the way and disappeared into the night.

Rogue threw her arms around Remy from behind him. His body was shaking from anger.

"Remy don't listen to him…" She whispered into his ear and rubbed his chest. " Fuck those diaries. Don't forget about mah tarot reading. You've got your Queen here. There's a Tower we're goin' to overthrow… and we get to spin our own Wheel…"


	12. Chapter 12

" That fucker...!" Remy kicked over the chair near his desk. He tried to calm himself by stepping out on the balcony of his apartment. The sun was rising over Decatur street, revealing all the rich red colors of the buildings on the street.

"I know. You should have heard how super creepy he sounded when he said her name. " Bobby answered.

"When are you all flyin' off ?" Remy leaned against the railing of the balcony.

" Well, we are all supposed to board the big shuttle in exactly two weeks from this Thursday….without you, by the way "

" He specifically mentioned me?" Remy's voice lowered.

"Well, it wasn't specifically …you. It could have been any 'Louisiana bastard'. Do you have a pal down there who has also been , 'suctioning himself to Rogue like a leech' ?"

" I can't wait to suction his intestines around him like they're leeches…" Remy grumbled.

"Whoa. I think I totally saw that happen in Dead Alive." Bobby tried to lighten the mood.

" Are there any non-passenger shuttles going to the asteroid before that?" Remy asked as he breathed out.

" Yup. I checked that for you. He's sending up a shuttle next Friday . It'll have some of his robot drones on it that are taking the last supplies up."

" Shit…. next Friday already? …And nobody is actually up on the Asteroid yet?" Remy asked.

"Nope. Nobody. We get to be the freaking pioneers. I asked Magsy if I could bring some covered wagons , but he said no. I don't know who is worse at the other end of my jokes. Him or Storm…Storm, I don't think gets them…Magsy totally gets them, but won't laugh. What a dick. I mean, I am so hysterical. He could at least indulge me in a small giggle at least. It's all I ask for "

" Well, this isn't Oregon Trail, Bobby." Remy said flatly.

"Oregon Trail?" Bobby laughed very hard , "I used to hate that computer game. It was so lame. Especially that part where you had to cross the river and you'd take the ferry and sometimes you made it over, and sometimes your whole clan died from typhoid or cholera. You'd think they'd make that part interesting like make everybody get attacked by zombies. Like the ones in Land of the Dead… They sank to them bottom of that river and kept walkin over to that city…they would have totally munched on some pioneers… But, I gotta remember that Oregon Trail was was poppin' during the early '90s. It's when Microsoft DOS and MC Hammer was cool , not zombies.

"Bobby? Can we please stay on the subject?" Remy was starting to get annoyed with Bobby's tangent. "So, Magneto won't tell you where it's liftin' off from unless you bring …." He took an angry breath , "…. your guest?"

" Exactly." Bobby answered.

"Who's the guest?" Rogue startled Remy as she joined him on balcony. She held up a bag from Café Du Monde, where she had just returned from.

"I got Bobby on the phone, chere…" Remy replied to her. "Bobby, somebody's gotta know which space station is that he's lifting off from…..Do you think Xavier knows?"

"No, I don"t think he does. But I think I'm about to ….."A loud shuffling noise replaced Bobby's voice.

"Bobby?" Remy asked confused. "Bobby? …you there?" He shrugged at Rogue.

Rogue pulled out a beignet from the bag, and offered to feed it to Remy. Her flirtation made him smile for the first time since his conversation with Bobby began.

"GAMBIT?" Bobby yelled, "I sooooo got this." More loud noises filled his end of the conversation, followed by some cursing.

"Bobby? What's going on? Sounds like you're next to a freight train." Remy responded after taking a bite from the pastry Rogue had put in his mouth.

More shuffling and swearing was heard. "Gambit? You there? " Bobby whispered softly.

"Yeah, Bobby? What's going on? What is all that noise? Are you next a train or something?"

"Yeah, I'm inside one."

"You're inside a freight train?…now?" Remy asked shocked.

"Yeah, I got to find out where I lost my blue tooth device. That was a hard jump I just did with one hand still holding onto my cell. Almost lost my shoe too….I have to stop losing my shoes. Damn it, I hate it when Storm is right. I shouldn't have dressed like I'm going to the beach….but then again if I knew I was going to jump into a freight train, I would have probably worn my uniform or something. …no, you know what…I should have flown in my ice form then I wouldn't be getting this dumb bruise I'm gonna have now I'm on my leg. …You know what, Gambit, I don't think about using the ice form on crazy shit like this more often . I always think of it after the fact, and that was actually one of my new years resolu -"

Remy interrupted the second tangent Bobby had started in their conversation. "Bobby,… Why are you inside a freight train?"

Rogue looked at Remy confused. He only shrugged back at her and turned on the speaker on his cell so she could listen.

"Don' t worry, I'm gonna ride this baby to wherever it goes."

"Bobby, what is goin' on?" Rogue asked.

"Well we all met at Old Man Magsy's factory today. When he wouldn't tell us which space station he's using for lift off, I knew I had to outsmart him and find out. I mean, he was acting like he was so freaking mysterious and smart. So, I'm looking around at the factory, which is making parts for the colony, and I notice these parts are all getting shipped somewhere….which I am guessing is to the shuttle they need to go on….which is probably at the space station ….so, friends, that is why I just jumped into this freight train."

"Bobby! Be careful!" Rogue exclaimed.

"Oh , hi there, sweetheart… What? You find me irresistible? Well, I owe it to the Drake charm.."

"Who are you talkin' to?" Remy raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah this song is cool…. Yeah I like dancing… 'I like the way you work it….no diggity….. …I like to bag it up…..bag it up…' "

"Why is he singin' ?" Remy asked Rogue, who had no answer.

"Whoa, girl. Slow down. …step back if you're going to unzip my fly. It tends to roll out and hit the floor, and I don't want it to hit you."

"Oh mah God!" Rogue shook her head in shock. "Remy, please hang up."

"Hey guys! Don't hang up!" Bobby yelled, " Sorry….I just felt Emma in my head. She was trying to find out where I disappeared to. I had to make her think I was in a club and she was about to see my junk ."

Remy laughed out loud very hard. " Good one Bobby… but why would you be in a club at dis hour in the morning?"

"Oh fuck. Yeah, it is only noon over here…Oh, that was a stupid idea…also how did I get from a middle-of-nowhere- isolated part of Maryland and into a club so fast? They probably just walked back into their car…. She's probably thinking the same thing, and will come back in my head…. I gotta end this call….Listen, guys, put down the po'boy sandwiches or crawfish or whatever you're eating right now. Chug down the Hurricanes for me, and be ready to meet me wherever I'm going to end up. I'll call you when I'm there…whenever that is."

"Bobby, are you sure you're ok?" Rogue asked. "Ah can't believe you're doin' this crazy stuff for me."

"Aw, thanks, baby. I always knew I was bringing sexy back, but thought nobody noticed. You are looking good in those apple bottom jeans…boots with the fur…the whole club lookin at her… shawty got low low "

"Emma must be back…." Remy hung up the phone. He looked at Rogue." Did you ever notice how many pop songs he's always quotin? "

" Yeah, he does that, " Rogue put her arm around Remy's waist. " When he's nervous and needs to think of something quick to say, he'll turn to pop songs. As if he doesn't know enough movie references, he's got music down too. I think it's from his time spinnin' in college."

"He was a DJ?"

"Yeah, he did it for fun on the side. "

"Hmmm….we might need a DJ." Remy took Rogue's hand and kissed her engagement ring.

" It's nice to see you're plannin' our big day already, Sugah." Rogue smiled at him. " But, there's no rest for the wicked. Let's get ready to meet Bobby."

* * *

The Professor was pleasantly surprised at what he saw on his computer screen. He followed a few online news feeds that pulled up mutant -friendly stories. Today, a review in a Philadelphia newspaper caught his eye. It reviewed the of the opening gala of a new arts center that promoted mutant and humans creating art together in order to learn respect about each other.

He didn't recognize the mutants in any of the photos, except for one , Rogue.

She was standing in front of the entrance to the art center. Though the caption praised her fashion sense, The Professor was delighted to see that she had attended such an event.

She appeared in a second candid photograph on the next page. She was laughing and crouched down next to two little girls, who were finger painting a picture about mutants and humans being friends. Remy stood in the background smiling at her. They both looked very happy.

He had tried to check in on Rogue, but he couldn't even sense her feelings anymore. There were ways he could use cerebro to extract more information about her. After Storm told him she had changed her cell phone number, The Professor thought it was best to respect her sign not wanting to be contacted.

"Professor?" Storm peaked into his office.

"Yes, Ororo?" He looked up from his computer screen.

"Have you seen Scott and Emma yet? Have they returned?"

"I have not seen them since they dropped us off at the jet." The Professor informed her. "I really wish they had not stayed behind. They need to leave Rogue and Gambit alone."

Storm nodded. "Scott had a few danger room sessions scheduled to run. I suppose I will go ahead and run the programs for him."

The Professor looked at the top of his screen, " Ororo? "

"Yes?" Storm walked back into his office.

"Please call Scott. Whatever they are chasing after has to be false. This event was on the 16th."

Storm walked over to the computer screen to see what The Professor was looking at, and joined him in smiling.

* * *

Scott and Emma drove the car into Baltimore. They had stayed behind to follow some of the suspicions Emma had read in Bobby's mind about Gambit and Rogue's activities last week.

"I hope we find something. I don't know how much longer I can read his perverted mind. I can't believe what I almost saw earlier." Emma told Scott as he drove. " Scott! Stop! That's the building! I saw Bobby snooping through their bedroom . He had found a scribbled note from somebody asking them to meet him at this building, with that sign on it after they arrive in Baltimore."

" Let's check it out." Scott agreed. " This is all suspicious , Emma. If they were in Baltimore last week, they must have stolen that De-Ager. Not that I'm that concerned about Magneto's things, you know. It's the fact that they are stealing. . ….. I mean what else could they be stealing?"

"Exactly." Emma agreed as they neared the building. " If we can prove they did it, maybe we can get on Magneto's good side on the Asteroid. I prefer him as an ally and not a villain. "

They surveyed the large and abandoned warehouse. Emma started walking towards the front entrance.

" No, Emma, the X-men never go through a front door. Too risky. Let's go through the back." Scott stopped her. They found their way around the building.

Emma smiled at what she found taped on the back door. "Scott! There's a note. It's the same handwriting I saw in Bobby' s memory."

Scott picked it up from Emma. " Great! Let me see….' To R.L and R , good work on last week. Meet us inside at 8pm tonight.' Emma, This has today's date on it! We can catch them!"

" Yes, Let's come back at 7, and stake the place out." Emma nodded. She and Scott went back to the car. After a few hours, they came back to the scene. It surprised them.

There was now a line of people standing in front of a bouncer near the same back door. Music could be heard each time he opened the door.

"It must be a club at night." Emma said to Scott." Do you think this is where Bobby was earlier? It was quiet, though…I mean , you and I thought it was abandoned"

" I don't know." Scott replied. " It looks suspicious. . . and that' s exactly where Rogue and Gambit would be hanging out- in a suspicious place. Let's go in. "

After standing in line for a few minutes, the bouncer asked the two of them for their I.D.s. He looked Scott up and down, "You can wait outside, pretty boy."

" Excuse me? " Scott's jaw dropped.

" We got enough frat boys in there. We need to let a few more cooler people in before I can start thinking about letting you in ."

" This is unbelievable!" Scott's face grew red. Emma patted his shoulder while she handed her I.D. to the bouncer.

" Ms. Frost?" The bouncer asked surprised. " Oh, sweetheart, you didn't have to wait out here. Didn't anybody tell you?"

" What?" She replied, completely confused.

The bouncer opened the door for her while Scott continued to stammer.

" Just wait here. " Emma told him ." I will be right back." She tapped her forehead, which was a sign she and Scott used to indicate that they would keep in touch telepathically.

An incoming call from Storm on his cell phone distracted Scott. He nodded at Emma while taking the call.

Emma entered the dark building. The smell of cigarettes filled the air.

"Ohhhh , there she is!" A man smiled at her as he walked past her.

Another man licked his lips at her.

She shook her head and entered the main room. She then let out a gasp. This was a secret a strip club...and not just any strip club…. a strip club with posters of her in her bikini everywhere.

Her face went pale when she read the text on the posters:

"One Night Only! I Might Be Shy, But I Get Totally Nude! " In smaller letters she could read, "Text Me For More Action ." She quickly checked her phone and saw 10 missed texts from numbers she didn't recognize.

The crowd in the club started recognizing her and loudly encouraged her to mount the stage.

Furious, Emma quickly started tearing down the posters.

"Screw all of you!" She yelled.

"Yeah, I wish you would…" A man nearby laughed. She picked up his drink and threw it in his face. He stood up to throw a punch at her, but an optic blast was shot near him. Emma turned around to see Cyclops angrily fighting everybody in the doorway. Three big bouncers grabbed him and dragged him out of the club.

She ran after him, but before she could reach him, a larger man grabbed her arm. "Come on, sweetheart, we got a lot of men here who have paid big bucks to see you."

"Get your hands off me!" She yelled.

The man only laughed and handed her a note. " Alright, honey , you can go…but somebody left you this."

Emma ran outside , where even more security guards had joined in on circling around Scott.

She opened the note. It had the same handwriting as the two other notes she had seen. She screamed  
at it frustration:

"Dearest Emma.

If you fuck with my mind , I'm going to fuck with yours.  
I've got plenty more wild goose chases for you if you want them.

Love Always,  
Robert Drake."


	13. Chapter 13

Bobby was situated on a hill a good mile away from Magneto's space station. He sat very still behind a bush looking through a pair of high-tech binoculars.

He mumbled to himself loudly. "This is sooooo not good…..This can't be happening…Please tell me this is a coincidence. "

"Bobby ?" Rogue's voice startled him.

He turned around to see Rogue and Remy crouching down next to him.

"Wow, guys, that was fast!" He said.

"Yeah, we came right over. Are you ok, Bobby?" Remy asked, "We heard you mumbling that somethin' isn't good."

"It doesn't look good, no. " Bobby looked through the binoculars. " Listen guys, I have to get inside that facility."

"Bobby." Rogue put her hand on Bobby's shoulder, " You've done enough for me. You don't have to go in there."

"No, I have to …" Bobby put the binoculars down and looked over at Rogue, " I have to get in there." He then noticed the ring on Rogue's finger, " HOLY SHIT! HE FINALLY GREW THE BALLS TO DO IT?"

"What?" Rogue asked confused.

Bobby grabbed Rogue's hand and examined her ring finger, " And you said ….yes? Nice."

" Why are you surprised she said yes?" Remy flashed Bobby an annoyed look. "You told me she'd for sure say yes."

'That was to get you to grow the balls to finally do it….."

Rogue smiled at the two of them. " Wait, Remy was talkin' to you about this before?"

"Oh yeah, he's been he's been meaning to ask you since forever. Like, since before Tom Cruise got weird…Well?" Bobby looked over at Rogue and Remy. " This is the part where you both thank me."

"Thank you for what?" Rogue asked.

"For always making you two get back together after your fights." Bobby smiled to himself.

"Bobby, thank you for meddling in our relationship." Rogue laughed and patted his back.

"You're welcome, Rogue. ..you see I am a sweet guy . I'm glad you see that because most women don't . All they say to me is: 'Bobby, your powers suit you because you are just as cold as ice.' And then I say , 'Really, I'm cold? How cold was I when I stayed up all night and held you while you slept so I could make sure you weren't getting nightmares?' I'm sorry if you thought it was cold of me to tell you that the aunt and uncle that raised you really weren't your biological family …but you begged me to help you look into your family's past.…I was just the bearer of bad news. That doesn't make me cold…."

"Is this about Polaris?" Rogue asked softly.

Bobby ignored her and continued his rant. "…..And when you asked me if I wanted kids someday, and I said I didn't know,… That doesn't make me cold. It just means that I barely take care of myself right now and I have no idea how to even think about taking care of anybody else. It doesn't mean I can't see a future with you…."

"Bobby?" Rogue tried to snap him out of his tangent

" Sorry, Rogue …." Bobby shook his head and rubbed his forehead. " Yes…of course it's about her….It's always about Polaris. "

"Bobby, I'm sorry to hear about all of that…" Remy shook his head.

"Remy, I'm really glad you took the plunge. " Bobby looked at Rogue and Remy seriously, "I'm really happy for you two. I really encouraged Remy to do it, because I regret not proposing to Lorna . I was thinking about it, but then we broke up before I could…I wish I had…maybe it would have made her realize how serious I was about her."

Rogue and Remy looked at each other and stayed silent.

"I should have done it. She would have had the easiest name change too. She would've gone from Lorna Dane to Lorna Drake…so easy…how could she have said no?"

"Bobby….I'm so sorry…" Rogue looked at him.

"It's ok…. Who am I kidding? She wouldn't have said yes…." Bobby looked down. " I still love her though. That's the part that sucks. It's just like when Episode 1,2, and 3 came out…..You knew they weren't going to work out the way you wanted them to and nothing good could come from them, but you had to watch them. You had to secretly love them because it was Star Wars…except for that jerk, Jar Jar…"

"Yeah, Jar Jar sucked. " Remy agreed.

"Natalie Portman was hot though…" Bobby looked out in the distance.

"Bobby, I'm sorry…but can I bring us back to our situation here?" Rogue asked. "You were talkin' about how you had to get into this facility."

"Yeah, I do. " Bobby looked through the binoculars again. " It's not just for you guys,…I have a bad feeling in my stomach …..so, remember when I told you that I came down to see Lorna in Ohio…..?"

"Yes…" Rogue responded.

"Well….?" Bobby raised his eyebrow.

"We are in Ohio…" Remy responded.

"Well, that new workplace I visited her in wasn't too far from here. I had this suspicion she was working with X-Factor again because I found out they moved a division here…..While waiting for you guys, I recognized a few of the license plates on the vehicles going in through that building over there. When she and I were a part of X-Factor a few years ago, all the cars we used had those same plates. They're these special federal license plates…

"Right,,,I forgot that X-Factor is funded by the government…So I wonder if that's how Mags is gettin' funds for Asteroid M." Remy looked over at Rogue.

"Yeah, that must be how…" Rogue nodded at him. "We were wonderin' that for a while…"

"This means…." Bobby worried, "Lorna could be helping ..I have to get in there and find out… If she's planning on getting on that damn Asteroid…I won't ….I won't ever see her again…" Bobby looked so sad he almost had a tear in his eye. "Who knows what plans Magneto has for her? Damn that fucking Alex Summers. He's the one who is cold. It's cold to let Lorna be involved with Magneto. I've got to get inside there and find out….I'll see you guys in a bit."

"Wait, Bobby!" Rogue exclaimed, "How are you plannin' on doin' that?"

"Easy. I'm fulfilling my New Years Resolution. I'm going to use the ice form. A few of the cars on the freight train had these giant coolers. " He looked through his binoculars, " They're still being unloaded over there into that building . I'm going to freeze myself and let myself get unloaded into there."

Remy and Rogue gave each other a look. It was a good idea, but not a great one. Remy looked over at Bobby "Can I ask where you got these binoculars from?"

"A robot." Bobby casually responded as he pulled the binoculars away from his face.

"A robot?" Remy asked

"Yeah. Apparently, Magsy uses these robots as his security on the freight train…One of them found me and we had this epic fight. …and well, long story short, I'm here, and that piece of metal isn't…So, I ripped these out of its face. I can see for miles through this…."

"Can I look through them?" Remy asked.

"Be my guest." Bobby handed them over to him.

"I'll be right back," Remy looked into the distance. " I want to get a closer look at that building you're talkin' 'bout, Bobby."

"Please be careful, " Rogue nodded at him.

Remy nodded back and jumped down the hill they were on. Rogue smiled after her stealthy acrobat. She then looked at Bobby, who she had never seen him look so sad.

"I'm going in there, Rogue." He told her as he started at the space station. " I have to stop the woman I love from making a huge mistake."

" She already made a huge mistake, Bobby ." Rogue rubbed his back. "She made a huge mistake when she dumped you."

"Awwwwww Rogue…." Bobby leaned his head on her shoulder, " Thank you…..that's the sweetest thing anybody has said to me about all this…even my mom's had some harsh words."

" Really?" Rogue asked and put her arm around Bobby. "Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, I talked to my mom the other day, and it was the usual nightmare it always is. She starts out being sweet and then she starts with all the questions." Bobby then impersonated her very heavy New York accent, " 'What did you do to this girl this time? When are you going to get serious with your life?' Then my dad won't get on the phone, but he'll be loud enough for me to still hear his racist comments…Ugh…." Bobby paused and looked at Rogue very seriously, "Rogue, you are the little sister I always wished I had…. I love you like you're my family. …my non-annoying family."

Rogue was taken aback by Bobby's sincerity. She had once told him she loved him like her brother, and he reacted oddly. She figured that four letter word was hard for him to deal with. " I love you too, big brother. "

They both laughed.

"That makes Remy my future brother-in-law…that's pretty cool." He said, " Maybe I can finally have an in with his 'I -know-a-guys'

Rogue shot him a confused look.

"You know what I'm talking about, Rogue. You and I are going top set up for life with his connections. He knows a guy for everything. You can walk up to him and be like , 'Hey Gambit, I need a new guitar' And he'll be like ' Sure, I know a guy who runs a Gibson factory ' ….or 'I need to find out who killed JFK' and Remy will just say, "No problem, mon ami. I know a guy who fixes Dr. Who's tardis and he can send you back in time to find out. ' "

"That is true, " Rogue laughed, " We met Trent Reznor at Lollapalooza last month because Remy ran into a guy he knew who used to be a roadie for Nine Inch Nails. We got to go back stage."

" REALLY?" Bobby exclaimed, " You met Trent Reznor? You see this is exactly what I mean by you and me..we are set up for life ."

" 'We' ?" Rogue laughed , " Ah have a question to ask you, Bobby…. It's about the weddin'"

"Sure. Shoot." Bobby nodded.

"Ah don't really have any female friends right now…aside from Mercy, but we haven't been very close for too long….Hell, you're really the only friend I've had aside Remy. …Ah'd love for you to be a part of the weddin'….Would you …ugh… be mah Man of Honor?"

"Really? I've always wanted to be a Man of Honor!" Bobby exclaimed, " Wait…. does this mean that I get invited to the bachelor AND bachelorette party? "

"Sure " Rogue grinned at him.

"SWEEEEEEEET!" Bobby cheered , " I didn't realize how much my life could start turning around in just a few minutes."

"Bobby…" Remy called out as he returned. " I don't think your ice form idea is going to work…."

"Why? " Bobby asked.

"I got a closer look….What ever they're unloadin' out those freezers is gettin' quickly crushed into smaller ice cubes."

"Damn it ." Bobby said flatly

"Yeah. I think you deserve better than endin' up inside somebody's margarita." Remy shook his head as Bobby laughed.

"Yeah, but at least I'd live on in a happy hour somewhere." Bobby stood up….."I wonder why Magsy is crushing ice?"

" Don't know…but I got an idea." Remy looked out at the space station. " How hard would it be to get back inside one of those freight trains and grab one of those robots off it?"

"Not too bad. I pulled that one I was fighting off with me. It's probably still frozen over where I left it."

"Wait- you froze it? " Remy' eyes lit up. "That's perfect. Where is it?"

Bobby motioned for Remy to hand him back the binoculars. He looked through them, "Yup, it's still there. Just outside the fence…Rust in peace, you metal jerk ."

"I know a guy who's an electronics/ robotic expert…" Remy looked in the direction that Bobby was staring off into.

"Of course you do!" Bobby looked over at Rogue. " See , that's what I mean! Did this guy used to be a roadie for The Talking Heads? Because that's one of my favorite bands….hint …hint…hint"

Remy looked at Bobby confused.

"Remy, what are you getting at?" Rogue asked.

"If we go and get it, I can have him study it. " Remy explained. " Maybe we can get it up and runnin' and send it back in there for us with a camera inside it. We can operate it so it spies for us. Rogue an' I can find out everythin' we want to know….an' for you, Bobby, we can make it see if Polaris is involved…"

Bobby nodded. " Perfect. I've never heard of Robots checking each other to see whose wearing a wire."

* * *

"Dr. Gates, do you really think Ah'm bein' rushed into this marriage?" Rogue looked out of the window of her therapist's Chicago office.

"I didn't say that. You just did." Dr. Gates replied.

Rogue furrowed her eyebrows at Dr. Gates. The mood in the room was odd. Was there was something strange about the way Dr. Gates was twisting her words around today? Or was Rogue just scared of the first person to doubt the engagement? " I don't think I'm bein' rushed at all. It feels right."

"Does everything feel right?" Dr. Gates asked.

" Well, You an' I have already discussed the one thing in our relationship that I felt weird about… but we've worked that out already."

"What was that?" Dr. Gates scribbled in her notebook.

" Our money situation. Ah'm doin' ok. Ah have enough. It's nice to be on a break right now, but eventually Ah'll need to figure out what Ah'm doin' and go back to workin' somewhere. My fiance, he has a lot more money than I do. Ah've got this impression that he could retire right now if he wanted to … He spends so much on me, an' it's hard for me to reciprocate. I can't spend nearly as much on him as he does with me. Hell, he just bought me a house for mah Birthday….how am Ah supposed to top that?"

"So, does this affect the way you feel as a woman?" Dr. Gates asked.

" Well, yeah, it did before you an' Ah talked about this…. Ah told you how Ah've never been the type of girl who has relied on a man for anythin' . You told me that a relationship is about two people givin' to each other . He might give me more material things, but Ah give him a lot of things that are priceless.  
Rogue looked up at the ceiling before continuing.

" I've been really thinking' 'bout that conversation we had, Dr. Gates. Ah've realized that the root of me havin' felt uncomfortable about the money situation wasn't a feminist issue. It would have been, if he bought me things to make himself feel like he owned me or somethin'….Ah've known those guys. They try to buy their women and want them to behave like their sad pets in return. My fiance has never treated me like that. He's just an extravagant spender because he grew up so poor, an' now, he's tryin to make it up to himself and the people he loves.

" My issue with it goes back to another reason I resent my mother…..She wiped out my savings account, opened a bunch of credit cards in mah name and maxed out all of them. Her girlfriend set aside a trust fund for me that Ah was supposed to get when Ah was 18...but of course, mah mother wiped that out too."

Rogue paused to look at Dr. Gates, who was angrily crumbling up the pages on her notebook.

"Yeah, pretty horrible right?" Rogue continued, " So any time my fiance got me an expensive gift, Ah'd get frustrated that Ah couldn't get him somethin' just as expensive in return because mah mother played a big role in that."

"Yes, I see.. " Dr. Gates cleared her throat." But perhaps he really doesn't have all that money,. Maybe it's a façade he uses."

Rogue raised her eyebrow in confusion, "What do you mean?"

" Perhaps, he does want to appear superior in the relationship. Perhaps everything he has given you has been stolen. …And as for your mother, maybe she was afraid you were going to blow your money away on a man…"

"What?" Rogue sat up slightly from the couch.

"Given his past as a thief, he could have stolen everything he gave you to-" Dr. Gates adjusted the glasses on her nose.

"Dr. Gates ," Rogue interrupted her. " How did you know he was a thief?"

"You've mentioned to me that Remy was a thief before…" Dr. Gates clocked her pen.

" Remy….?" Rogue folded her arms across her chest. "Ah've never told you his name…"

"Yes, you have told me his name before. " Dr. Gates took her glasses off , "Anna, let me remind you that there is a reason you are the patient, and I am the doctor ."

"Dr. Gates, you've been really pushy with your opinions today. I thought the purpose of therapy was for you to listen to me and help me understand how I can handle situations….not to judge me or the people Ah talk about."

"Anna, I think we need to discuss medication . I'm afraid you aren't thinking clearly."

Rogue stood up from the couch where she was sitting. "You are not Dr. Gates, are you?"

"Anna, you are getting out of control."

Rogue stared her therapist up and down. "Dr. Gates had her ears pierced… Ah know this because Ah complimented her on her earrings last week. How come Ah don't see any holes in you're your earlobes?"

"That's it. I'm prescribing you-"

" No. You've been tryin' to manipulate me…an' there's one person who has made career of that….. Mystique! Ah know it's you…." Rogue shook her head.

The room was dead silent as Rogue watched as the woman who she thought was her therapist shape shift into Mystique.

"You Bitch!" Rogue grew angry, upset and terrified all at once. She was angry at the audacity Mystique had to try to pull this off. She was upset that the woman still had a need to ruin her life. She was terrified of how much personal information Rogue might have confided her with. " How long have you been doin' this, Mystique?"

" Not long enough , apparently. I should have made you change your mind about him earlier. I can't believe you are marrying that disgusting rat. Every time I picture his slimy hands all over my daughter, I want to kill myself!"

"Fuck you! " Rogue stared at Mystique angrily.

"What adds insult to the injury is that he's Sinister's son! You know how much I hate that man. I can't bear the thought of you brining their spawn into the world!"

Rogue swung a punch at Mystique, who quickly dove it.

"You could do better!" Mystique shook her head. "There's somebody better out there waiting for you….You are meant to marry somebody better."

Rogue bit her lip, trying not reveal the fact that she knew exactly who Mystique was referring to.

"Why would Ah give a shit 'bout your opinions? After everythin' you've done to me? Especially recently?"

Rogue threw a fast upper hook at Mystique's chin. While she tried to recover from the surprise, Rogue threw a second hook at the side of her face.

Mystique managed to step backwards far enough from Rogue's reach . " I framed you so you could finally realize that the X-men didn't trust you."

Those words struck a nerve with Rogue, and she paused from attacking Mystique with another series of punches.

" You may think what you'd like about your time with the Brotherhood, but you know that we always trusted you more than the X-men ever did. "

Rogue stood still and frowned at Mystique.

" Rogue, where is Destiny?" Mystique asked slowly.

"Ah don't know." Rogue responded just as slowly. " Ah have nothing' to do with her disappearance. What have you done with the real Dr. Gates?"

Mystique grew angry. "You are lying! Where is she? What have you done to her?" She charged at Rogue and kicked her off her feet.

The two women rolled around the floor, exchanging punches. They both hated to admit that they were each other's match. Their fighting style was so similar, that they could predict each other's next move. This was really a battle of who was faster at executing her next move.

Mystique took Rogue by surprise with a strong kick in the stomach, that sent her backwards through a window.  
As Rogue fell down ten stories, she felt a million tiny pieces of glass cut into her skin. She took hold of her flying powers just seconds before hitting the cement.

As she floated in the air, the rush hour crowd outside looked at her in horror and began screaming at her.

"She's a mutant!"

"Get out of here! We don't like your kind!"

"Mutie!"

She saw Mystique flash her a grin at her at the front of the crowd before quickly shapeshifting into another person.  
There was one thing Rogue knew about Mystique. Following her into a crowd was like finding a needle in a haystack. She could change herself into a bunch of different people every two seconds.

Rogue flew back inside the building to check in on Dr. Gates.

"Dr. Gates! Are you alright?" She exclaimed as she saw the staff pulling Dr. Gates out of the bathroom she had been locked in. They all helped pull the rope off she had been tied up with.

"Stay back!" Her receptionist warned Rogue as she tried to come in closer.

"I'm so sorry about this…" Rogue shook her head.

Dr. Phillips, another therapist who shared the office space, stepped up to Rogue, and softly spoke. "We can't have this kind of violence in here. It's dangerous for our other patients."

Dr. Gates finally stood on her two feet and nodded her head. " Anna, I think it would best if you find another place to continue your sessions…"

Rogue's heart sank as she nodded. She darted out of the office as fast she could.

* * *

"Anna. What happened?" Remy exclaimed as Rogue rushed into their house.

"Oh Remy…" Rogue sighed. Remy pulled her into his arms before she was even done outstretching her own arms towards him , "I uh….ran into Mystique …"

"Mystique?… Where?" He grabbed the first aid kit from the kitchen.

Rogue was pretty invulnerable to cuts and bruises, but a few pieces of glass had still managed to leave their marks on her arms. Remy gently cleaned them while listening to Rogue's story about the incident at Dr. Gates' office. His touch was so soft and loving, she was already feeling physically better.

"Remy, the older Ah'm gettin' the less angry Ah'm at her. Ah'm gettin' tired of bein' angry. It's gettin' replaced by this pain instead….it's this pain of knowing she can still hurt me."

Remy looked into her eyes and kissed her forehead,

"Remy, sometimes... Ah feel like…" She started crying.

"Oh, Anna. Don't let her make you cry. " He hugged her tightly.

" Ah can't help it, Remy. Sometimes, Ah feel like underneath all this strength and tough exterior that Ah show off...Ah'm still this small little girl who is afraid of her mother.…and ..her father….Ah'm afraid of that pain they cause me…."

"Oh, Anna." Remy squeezed her tighter closer to himself, " I know what you mean…It doesn't matter how old you get in life ..It's still there , isn't it? You can't erase it, can you? Especially those words they've said to you…"

Rogue and Remy repeated their parents' words in perfect unison, " I should have left you in the streets where I found you."

They both laughed at each other while Remy wiped her tears.

Remy flashed her a bittersweet smile, " I guess Mystique and Jean-Luc both have that line in common, huh?"

"Yeah…" Rogue nodded. "And was your natural response that you wished you were left in the streets?"

"Yeah….because it would have been better than feelin' like a disappointment. …" Remy nodded.

"Yeah." Rogue nodded as she wiped her eyes.

" I still struggle with it , Anna. My father can say he's sorry now….But, it doesn't mean I can forget all the things he's said to me over the years…. Maybe he's sorry he said them…but is he really sorry about actually having felt that way once…?" Remy put his head on Rogue's shoulder.

"Yeah…Exactly…" Rogue tightened her embrace around Remy.

" Anna, do you know what I thought when I first saw you? " Remy asked

Rogue shrugged.

"Of course, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life…" Remy looked into her eyes. "….And then I looked in your eyes…and I saw a sad pair of eyes that looked as sad as mine… It's like we understood each other's pain right away."

"Yeah, I thought that too…but I was too scared to admit it." Rogue ran her finger along his lips, " It was like Ah was meetin' somebody who finally understood me…Remy, nobody has ever understood me like you have…I can just flash you a look, and you understand me….Hell, we aren't even telepaths.. "

"We don't have to be. We're connected right here." Remy touched her chest and felt her beating heart. Rogue gave him a big smile. " Anna, you are a strong woman and you are allowed to break down every now and then. That doesn't make you the scared girl you were years ago.….those feelings will always be with you, but they don't define you.."

"Remy, " Rogue let out a deep breath, " Ah'm so glad we met."

"Me too. I love you…and since you tend to forget how special and wonderful you are, I'm gonna be here to always remind you." He kissed her.

"Remy, you are the kindest person I ever met." She smiled as he planted soft kisses on her neck. "Don't you forget that either, Sugah."

" Anna," Remy held her face between his hands. "Theoren just made it up here an hour ago. He brought it up with him.

"The elixir?" Rogue asked.

"Yes, I really wanted you to take it on our last night in New Orleans with my family, so you could experience our traditional ritual . I was disappointed when Theoren realized it was still too diluted. But, he's extracted it. I have it here now. It's ready. I don't want to wait 'til our next trip down South. We're livin' a life where anythin could happen any day...an' I don't want to wait. " He pulled out the vile and showed it to her.

"Where is he?" Rogue asked.

"Bobby got excited when he learned that he's our robotics expert. He kept askin' him all these crazy questions based on robot movies he's seen. So, I suggested they go out drinkin' an' we meet up with them later….lets go upstairs…"

He took her hand and led her to their bedroom. Rogue observed what Remy had prepared.

The curtains were drawn. The smell of incense filled the air. A large circle composed of lit candles was set up on the floor. Remy pulled her to the middle of the circle and had her sit on the rug on the floor.

"What are doin'? She asked he started lighting a few more candles around the room.

"Just respectin' the elements. " He explained as he lit a candle on the north side of the room. "This candle invites Earth…" He then moved to the East side of the room and lit another candle. This candle invites Air….and this one.." He moved to the sSuth , " Fire….and this last one.." He lit a candle on the West side of the room. "This one invites Water…It's just tradition to greet them all…"

Rogue smiled as Remy joined her on the floor. There was so much she still didn't understand about the traditions from his family, but she loved how their mysteries were slowly being revealed to her. Remy pulled out the vile.

"Can I choose how I take it?" She asked.

"Sure." He handed her the vile.

Rogue pulled off his shirt. She then whispered in his ear, "Be still, Sugah." She poured the contents of the vile into the crevice of Remy's collarbone. He smiled at the sensation of her playful tongue as she seductively licked it off his skin.

Rogue stopped abruptly as her head started to spin.

" My Cherie," Remy pulled her into his arms., "Everybody reacts to it differently… are you ok?" He kissed her forehead.

"Yeah. Ah feel kinda drunk an' like I'm not in my body…" She responded with a very slow speech.

"It's ok, " He calmly spoke into her ear. His heart sank as he worried about the possibility that she was having a bad reaction to it. " It'll pass…, ma cherie….I'm here." Her body was shaking a bit.

"Remy, please keep talkin' " She whispered " Your voice makes it all fell better."

" Ok. " He spoke into her ear. " I'm gonna talk about our weddin' day …I want our day to be everything you ever wanted, Anna. I want you to plan anything you want. Money is no object… I will get you anything you want. Nothing is too expensive. You get yourself the perfect dress you want…" He kissed the top of her head , " You pick out the perfect place you want it at.." He kissed her again, "You pick out the flowers, the band, the DJ….anything you want is yours…. I want to give you the best day of your life "

Rogue shifted in Remy's embrace. He quickly noticed that she was trying to take her shirt off.

"Feelin better already?" He laughed.

"Yeah.." She smiled at him. "Ah don't know if its' you or this elixir, but I'm ridiculously horny right now."

Remy smiled her as she took the rest of her clothes off. " I don't believe anybody in the Guild ever got that side effect …but I'm totally fine with you havin' it…."


	14. Chapter 14

The morning sun painted warm colors over Lake Michigan as Remy finished his jog on the beach next to it. The waves playfully crashed next to him.

He entered his house and ascended the staircase to his bedroom. Though he was gone from the X-men for the whole Summer now, his old exercise habits from there would still wake him up occasionally. He smiled over at Rogue, who clearly didn't miss any of her former early-in-the morning- X-men-workouts. She preferred to work out at night, and was still was curled up peacefully in bed.

Remy walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He paused to think about what the day had in store, and closed his eyes as the hot water hit his body. A moment later, he heard the second shower head turn on. The touch of Rogue's hands on his back startled him.

" Ah had to roll over to an empty spot on the bed…." Rogue sounded sad as she kissed his spine.

Remy looked over his shoulder at her, "Je suis tres desole* ma Chere." ( *I'm very sorry) He planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Well, you always look so hot after you've been workin' out, so…. je te pardonne* ." (* I forgive you*) Rogue repeated her kiss on another part of his spine. She started massaging his shoulders. "You an' your sexy, strong, tense muscles….."

Since she gained the ability to touch, Remy was the lucky recipient of her mind-blowing body massages.  
She was so strong and direct with her hands, that her massages always left him both relaxed and extremely aroused. This instance was no different.

He held onto the wall in front of him for leverage and let out a moan as she kneaded his shoulder blades. All the muscle knots disappeared underneath her fingertips. Her hands then moved onto working along either side of his spine. Remy gazed up at the ceiling in a deep state of relaxation as her hands traveled down. When she started working her magic on his lower back, he couldn't take it anymore.

"My Anna…" He turned around to meet her lips with his. He grabbed the bottom of her butt with both hands and picked her up. She quickly locked her legs around his waist before he slammed her against the tile wall. He immediately began passionately penetrating her.

Rogue pulled his hair with her hands. Her moans struggled to keep up with her breathing as he quickly deepened himself inside her. When he slid one hand in between them to reach her spot, her moans got out of control. He covered them with his lips. Both Remy, and his tongue, felt incredible as they both slid deeper inside her.  
Rogue yearned for moments of ecstasy like these to last forever.

She decided to intensify the moment for the both of them. She pulled her signature move that drove her man crazy. She tightened her vaginal muscles around him.

Remy let out a deep groan and started swearing in French at the immense pleasure. Moments later, he reached his climax, just after one of hers. They laughed playfully at each other after they both nearly slipped and fell over.

Remy helped her out the shower a few minutes later. He gently wrapped a towel around his Southern Belle and smiled warmly at her. "It's not easy to leave you in bed, my Moitie. I was just wired, an' didn't wanna wake you. Theoren texted from the warehouse. He's got that metal spy almost ready to head back over to Ohio."

"Wow! It's only been like 2 days…He's got it all done already?" Rogue asked as she started drying off her Cajun with a towel.

"Yeah, That's why Theoren's the best. " Remy smiled. "Plus….he got it all rigged up and ready with You-Know-What."

Rogue shot him a stare. "You mean he added that in too?"

"Yes, Anna." Remy pulled Rogue close to his body and looked into her eyes seriously. " It's ready to carry out our next hit on Magneto. You ready?"

Rogue took a deep breath. " Yeah, Ah don't think there's any turnin' around with you, my Diablo Blanc, is there?" She moved into a kiss Remy, but he paused her.

"Anna if you are havin' second thoughts, please let me know. I know this hit is big…an' if anybody finds out we're connected, it'll be real serious for us….. "

" Remy. " Rogue put her fingers on his lips and gave him a serious look. "Yes, this is serious, but Ah'm not turnin' my back on our mission. We have to do what we have to do….Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready to do anythin' for you, ma Cherie." Remy obliged her for the kiss she wanted earlier. "Let's go see if Bobby is ready to meet up with Theoren.

They finished getting ready and went downstairs.

They could hear Bobby giggling very hard in the living room. He was in front of the T.V. eating a bowl of cereal. Breakfast was set up on the coffee table.

"Bobby what are you watchin'?" Rogue asked.

"My buddies from the club shipped me some security footage from my big prank on Emma…Guys, watch this part!"  
He hit the rewind button on the remote control. " This is the part where Cyco gets dragged out of there by a bunch of rent-a-cops!" He laughed more.

Rogue laughed as she reached for the last macademia nut cookie from the coffee table.

"No, no." Bobby took the cookie out her hand. "As Man of Honor, I can't have you eating that, Rogue. Macademia nuts are bad for your skin." He looked at her seriously," You do want the perfect complexion for your wedding day,….don't you? "

"What?" Rogue asked, " I had no idea. Since when are macademia nuts bad for the skin?"

"Since never. I just wanted that last cookie. " Bobby grinned at her as he bit into the cookie. Rogue hit his arm hard.

" Hey!" Bobby giggled. "Give me a break. This is my celebratory cookie for pulling off yet another great prank. This one got me kicked off the team."

"Are you really off the team?" Remy asked as he reached for a bagel.

"Oh, yeah, it's official. Scott left me a long voicemail about it. But you guys know me. I get asked to leave….or I leave ….every couple months." Bobby shrugged.

Rogue laughed, " Remember that time you got Scott to think you were on cocaine? Ah still can't get over how you laid out that 'line' on the war room table and snorted it right in front of him!"

"Yeah, and then he drove me to the police station to teach me a lesson." Bobby could barely spit out his sentence between his laughter. " You guys should have seen his face when the cops laughed at him …when they checked out that my 'stash' was powdered sugar ."

"What about that time you switched the ladies and mens sign at that bar we all went out to for Storm's Birthday?" Rogue laughed.

" Oh yeah! " Bobby chuckled. " I was almost killed for that one."

"Rem, you should have seen it." Rogue shook her head. " Wolverine was the victim on that one. This old woman wouldn't stop hittin' him with her purse. He had no idea how to react! He wanted to fight back, but she was this poor 80 year old lady."

"I still don't know what she was doing in a bar that late…but Wolverine totally strangled me in the alley that time." Bobby laughed to himself and poured himself more cereal, "So, Xavier called me this morning and gave me the speech he always gives me. The 'Robert, you have so much potential…. if you could just finally grow up and focus' speech. He said that if I apologize for that immature stunt I pulled on Emma, I can come back. " Bobby pointed at the screen. "But, I can't apologize to myself enough for missing this scene!" He giggled more as he watched how infuriated Emma was. "Anyway, I have decided to start a brand new life now. I really think that the change I need in my life is to go back to-"

"Accounting?" Rogue finished his sentence

"How did you know I was going to say that?" Bobby shot her a surprised look.

"Because you always go back to accounting when you get bored of fighting crime. When you get bored of accounting, you go back to fighting…."

Bobby furrowed his eyebrows at the thought of being predictable. " Wow. I guess I do….Well, there are a few firms hiring here. So, I'm staying in Chicago. I'm going to start looking for my own pad."

"Really? You're stayin' in Chicago?" Rogue asked. " You never really stay in one place for too long."

"Yeah, the deep dish pizza in this town is growing on me….Speaking of which, we should go out for some today."

Remy looked at the text message notification that went off on his phone. " That pizza will have to wait. Theoren's got our guy ready. Let's head over to the warehouse and check him out."

* * *

Rogue kept her pace up with the freight rain traveling below her in rural Ohio. As she flew, she searched of signs of Bobby. They had decided to wait for the cover of night, and it was hard to find him.

"I see him," She said into her earpiece after she spotted him flying out of it on his ice trail . She came down to the ground to meet him.

Bobby flashed her a thumbs-up sign. " I set up the Tin Man in there. I gotta say this second trip inside the train was so much easier in ice form." He smiled at his arms, which lacked new bruises.

Rogue nodded at him. "Great, let's get back to the car, drive up to the jet, and get the hell out of here."

They both headed back to the SUV, which wasn't parked too far from the same spot where Rogue, Bobby, and Remy had been observing the space station a few days earlier.

They found Thereon busy in the back seat, messing with all of his computer equipment. "Still not gettin' anythin' over here, Remy," He spoke into his headpiece.

"Where is he?" Rogue asked, concerned.

" Remy went down closer to the station. There's a weird signal interrupting our communication to our guy. It looks like its comin' from a satellite an' he's trackin' it ."

Rogue spoke to Remy in her earpiece. "Be careful out there, Sugah. "

Remy's smug voice quickly responded, " Sounds like someone's got LeBeau fever… with missin' me already like this."

Rogue rolled her eyes and didn't respond.

Thereon smiled at her, " Don't worry, Rogue. This interruption isn't somethin' we wanted in the plan, but if we find which satellite it's comin' from, we might be able to hack into it and get some more clues 'bout this place."

"Gettin' anythin' now?" Remy's voice came through on their earpieces.

Theoren's computer screen started flashing images. He quickly responded ."Yeah, Remy we're pickin' up all sorts of stuff…. Must be off this third satellite. "

"What about our Tin Man?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah. He's online. " Theoren nodded. "He's all good now." He began trying to decipher the images on his screen.

Bobby looked over at his computer screen. "It looks like something is sending out some sort of message…. Like to activate something? "

"Yeah, like some sort of sophisticated computer….. Like a big computer is gettin' activated… This is interesting' " Theoren struggled to hack into the messages he was picking up on his computer.

"Call it a woman's intuition, but Ah don't like the sound of this." Rogue stared at the screen. She quickly spoke into her ear. "Remy, get your Cajun butt back over here. Ah got a bad feelin…."

A few yards near one of the station's entrances, Remy smiled to himself. Though he and Rogue had been on so many missions together, and he never got tired of how cute she was when she worried about him during them.

"Are you givin' me orders now? " He smiled as he responded to her in his earpiece, " How 'bout you save some of that dominance for me in the bedroom tonight?"

Just then, the ground shook underneath Remy's feet. He quickly began stepping back. Dirt was shooting up as something large began unearthing itself .

"This can't be good." Remy mumbled to himself and began running.

All of the sudden, an enormous metal hand shot out of the ground and wrapped itself around his torso. He struggled to free himself, but the grip was too tight. As he rose up in the air, he watched the owner of the hand reveal itself. He blurted out all the swear words he knew in all the languages he spoke.

He couldn't believe his eyes. He had been caught by a sentinel!

How was this possible? He and the X-men had destroyed the last of all these giant mutant -hunting robots at their base over two years ago.

It scanned Remy with its eyes.

"Confirming Target… Target confirmed as Remy LeBeau. Alias 'Gambit.' Target is secured. Prepare Target for execution."

Remy tried to reach for his cards out of his left pocket, but the Sentinel's grip was tightening around his chest so hard, he couldn't even pull one out. He felt himself get lightheaded as his heart struggled to beat under the pressure.

Back at the SUV, Bobby and Thereon continued to decipher messages off the computer.

"Did you guys just hear that?" Bobby asked. " Did something just say 'Prepare target for execution'? That can't be good."

A blurry image finally appeared on the computer screen. It was from the point of view something tall and looking down at a hand. Inside the hand was Remy being squeezed.

Rogue didn't even react. She flew out of the car with lightning speed.

"Stay here, Theoren." Bobby quickly got out of the car and morphed himself into his ice form.

"Remy!" Rogue screamed when she spotted him. She looked up at the sentinel and charged at it. "Get your hands off mah man!"

She began violently bashing the sentinel in multiple places. Though the giant shook from her super strength punches, none of her assaults were causing it to loosen its grip off Remy. She looked at it in confusion. Something was wrong. Something was different about this. Usually, sentinels were easily distracted from their captured prey when an easier one appeared in front of them. There she was, flying right in front of it, and it wasn't taking much notice of her.

Then she saw it scan her with its eyes.

"Good." She smirked at it, " Come on, big boy. Come and get me."

The sentinel finished its scan, "Mutant confirmed with alias 'Rogue'. Real name unknown. Mutant confirmed  
on 'Do Not Harm' list."

Rogue's jaw dropped. She had never come across a sentinel with a no-kill policy.

Its large head looked over at Remy. "Proceed with execution."

"NOOOOOOO!" Rogue screamed and flew over to him. The color in Remy's face was fading fast and he was slowing down his struggle. Rogue's heart raced at the sight of how lifeless he was appearing. " NO! NO! NO! Baby! Hold on!"

She planted her foot at the base of the giant's palm for leverage. She then used all her strength to pull back the sentinel's thumb.

"Hey, Terminator. " Bobby showed up to the scene. " It's been a few years since your last movie. That makes you a has-been!" He flew directly in front of it.

The sentinel scanned him. "Mutant confirmed with alias "Ice Man". Real name Robert Louis Drake. Mutant confirmed on 'Watch' list."

" 'Watch list' ?! " Bobby exclaimed, " Try to watch this!" He shot ice directly at the sentinel's eyes. As the giant tried to process how to fix its obstructed vision, Bobby flew around to the center of its back where its power source was.  
He found the panel and opened it, and then swore out loud. He quickly shouted towards his friends. "ROGUE! Its power source panel is empty!"

"It can't be!" Rogue yelled back at him. With one last giant pull, she ripped off the sentinel's thumb. Remy immediately inhaled a huge breath and started coughing. Though the other fingers of the sentinel were still holding onto his body, Rogue was relieved to see him breathing better. She switched her body to the opposite side of the sentinel's hand. and leveled her feet. She quickly began pulling back its index finger and ripped it off. Its grip loosened and Rogue found its middle finger much easier to rip off.

Remy was almost free. However, the sentinel began swaying its hand, making it very difficult for Rogue to hold on and rip off its last two fingers.

The sentinel had defrosted its eyes and was now trying to reach over its back and grab Bobby.

"Bobby!" Rogue yelled at him. "Figure out which part of it's protecting. That's where the power source must be!"

Bobby began flying around in circles around the sentinel in an attempt to confuse it.

Rogue finally pried open the last two fingers on the sentinel's hand, finally freeing Remy from its grip. She grabbed her man and flew him safely to the ground.

"Oh honey! " She exclaimed , " Are you ok?"

Remy found his bearings and grabbed a few cards from his coat pocket, " I'm fine, thanks to you, ma Chere. But notre ami* (*our friend) over there isn't!"

Bobby had been caught by the Sentinel's other hand. Remy threw his cards at its forearm. The giant immediately loosened its grip from the shock of the explosion. Rogue flew directly under Bobby and caught him before he hit the ground.

"Thanks, Rogue!" Bobby laughed quickly. " I was about to become a horrible puddle of water!"

Rogue shook her head . "Come on boys, we still gotta end this jerk!"

The sentinel , now missing one hand, and all its fingers off the other one, was still ready to attack. It lifted both its palms towards Bobby and Remy.

"I have an idea!" Rogue grabbed both men and pulled them behind her.

The sentinel centered its palms towards Rogue.

"Rogue!" Remy exclaimed. "What are you doin?"

"I'm on that 'Do Not Harm' list…..It can't blast you two without blastin' me!"

"Wow, are you really tryin' to call that thing's bluff?" Bobby looked at Rogue shocked.

The sentinel paused , struggling to compute its next move.

A very long pause settled in the air. The only sound was everybody's heavy breathing.

"Wow…you were right, Rogue." Bobby finally broke the silence. "Well, I love Mexican standoffs like this…but only when I'm watching them in the movies….I'm gonna find this thing's off button."

"BOBBY!" Rogue and Remy yelled after him as he flew towards the sentinel. He ducked its blasts and somehow managed to get to the back of it.

"Like you said, Rogue." Remy charged some more cards. "Let's end this thing."

"No, Remy, stay close to me!" Rogue yelled at Remy as he ran towards the sentinel .

She watched both her man, and her good friend, dodge blasts from the giant. Bobby threw frozen blasts at it. It seemed to be slowing it down, but not quickly enough. Remy struggled to find larger objects to charge and throw at it, but they were in an isolated area. He instead, began charging parts of the Sentinel's legs he could reach. He dodged the sentinel's feet as it tried to step on him.

Rogue looked out in the horizon towards the space station. Somebody was bound to come out here soon and notice all the commotion. They had to end this and get out of here.

Rogue shook her head at Remy and Bobby. "Don't send a man to do a woman's job." She mumbled to herself. She flew directly towards the Sentinel's head. She began slamming her shoulder into the base of its neck.

She saw Bobby just barely dodge a blast and she slammed into the Sentinel again.

She watched as Remy got kicked in the air and she gave the Sentinel another blow. It nearly toppled over.

"Y'ALL GET AWAY!" She yelled to the both of the men.

Remy lifted himself on his two feet from where he landed and looked up at Rogue.

"I GOT THIS!" She yelled down at him.

Bobby toppled onto the ground just near Remy. He had just been swatted by the sentinel's palm.

Rogue could see the sentinel prepare its palm for a blast against the two men. She quickly planted herself onto its shoulder for leverage, and with all her might, she pushed at the base of sentinel's neck. In a quick moment, its head flew off and landed on the ground with a huge thud. Rogue flew up in the air. Its body struggled to stand for a minute, but then followed the path of its head, and fell over forwards.

Rogue landed gracefully on her feet in front of Bobby and Remy.

She ran over to Remy and gave him a tight hug.

"Not so hard, ma Chere." He winced.

"Oh, Sugah, are you ok?" She looked at him concerned.

"I'm ok, my ribs still hurt a little from that G.I. Joe kung fu grip I was in." He flashed her a smile.

"Oh, Remy. I'm so glad you're ok." She kissed his cheek. "How about you, Bobby? Are you ok?"

Bobby was still shaking his head at the sentinel's body. "Ok, so, you took its head off in like two seconds after Gambit and I almost died a few times." He paused and then looked over at Rogue. " Have I ever told you how I totally want to be you when I grow up?"


	15. Chapter 15

The South Loop neighborhood of Chicago was bustling with the morning work rush. People hurried themselves onto trains, buses, and cars , anxious to start their work day.

Rogue, Remy, Thereon, and Bobby were no different from the crowd this morning, except that that they had started their day lot earlier in the morning. In fact, none of the had even gone to sleep the night before. After defeating the sentinel, they flew back to Chicago, and drove directly to back to Rogue and Remy's warehouse.

Bobby paced around the work room that Theoren had recently claimed as his own. He had his most high-tech computer equipment set up everywhere. Pieces of the sentinel's memory chips were sprawled out on a table.

"WTF?!." Bobby pounded his fist next to the sentinel's pieces. "These things are supposed to be illegal!"

Rogue laughed at Bobby. He was the only person she knew who actually uses text language abbreviations like "WTF" or "OMG" in high stress moments. "I know!" She agreed with him." President Kelley passed that law preventin' any more to ever be made."

"The Professor is always giving me speeches about my behavior." Bobby pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and looked at it. "I should call right now and give him my weekly 'Why the fuck are you friends with Magneto' speech."

"No, Bobby, don't !" Rogue shook her head at him. "You can't. You can't say anything' . We weren't even supposed to be at that space station, remember?"

" An' let's make sure who it belongs to. " Remy said without looking up from his computer screen. He was busy helping Theoren hack into the sentinel's protected memory. "Not that I trust Old Mags.. but let's check if this thing belonged to him. It could been a part of the government…an' if so, that means we'll have even bigger problems."

"Why am I on a fucking 'watch' list?" Bobby paced around. "It has to be Magneto."

"How is our 'droid doin' over there?" Remy asked.

'Ah haven't seen anythin' interestin' yet." Rogue responded. She had been observing their robot spy's vision on one of the monitors. "It doesn't seem like anybody suspects him. Ah'm not recognizin' anybody Ah see."

"Wait!" Bobby took interest in the same monitor Rogue was looking at. " That guy there! He's familiar. How do you get our droid to pan right?" He started clumsily typing on the keyboard in front of the monitor.

"Let me do that. Don't mess with that." Theoren got up from his work near the sentinel and walked over to Bobby.

"I don't understand why you don't just hook up a nintendo controller to the system?" Bobby asked.

"I was thinkin' 'bout it. " Theoren typed quickly. "But we were afraid that would make it too easy for you use it and you'd make our guy do high kicks and blow our cover."

"Yeah, I would have totally gone Mortal Kombat on everybody in that station. " Bobby nodded and then quickly exclaimed, "There's the guy. Can you make it zoom in him…..?" Bobby focused his eyes . "Yup. We can officially say X-Factor is involved. That's Forge. …Who is he walking over to?"

Rogue put her hand on Bobby's arm to calm him as he began to clench his fist .

"Who's that guy?" Theoren asked.

"That's my best friend. Douche Bag Summers!" Bobby looked away from the screen. "Fuck! That's another reason I fucking hate him! I can't think of at least one clever word play on 'Alex Summers' or 'Havok'. Douche Bag is the best I can think of."

Rogue started mumbling possible nicknames to herself. "Sorry, Bobby. Ah can't think of anything….except for Badsex Summers"

" Hey, that's not bad. You know what he called me the last time I saw Lorna ? 'Ice Prick'. …It's so stupid, but I gotta admit it's better than what I had against him…. which was nothing!" Bobby buried his head in his hands. "I gotta stop this, I gotta stop Lorna form all this ." He pulled out his cell phone again.

"Bobby!" Rogue pulled the phone from his hands, " Be careful with what you say to her. She can't know about us bein' there last night."

"Don't worry, I won't. I just have to talk some sense into her about this. " Bobby pulled his phone back from Rogue.

"I hacked in. This definitely belonged to Magneto. " Remy yelled out. " It was programmed by him. "

"Mind if I take look?" Theoren asked his cousin to give up his keyboard. Remy nodded and stepped away from the computer he was working at.

Rogue walked over to Remy's side. " Ok, so, Magneto breaks the law again…"

"Technically, he's got sort of a loophole on this one." Theoren looked shocked as he pulled up a file. " That law prevented mutant-huntin' sentinels from being built or ever used again. This one is a human huntin' one."

"What? Already?" Rogue shot Remy a look. He squeezed her hand. They both recalled Destiny's diary entry where Magneto and his son took over the world with human-hunting sentinels. Though they had come to terms with believing the diary entries, seeing parts of the prophecies like this still freaked them out.

"What do you mean by 'already?' " Bobby looked at Rogue and Remy confused. He then looked at Theoren, "And if it is a human-hunting sentinel, why did it attack Gambit?"

Theoren pulled up more information , " It looks like he had the sentinel set up there in front of the station as security so no human protesters would prevent any mutants from boardin' the shuttle. …"

"An' what about me?" Remy asked.

"It was programmed to keep you from boardin' that shuttle. " Theoren responded.

Bobby imitated Magneto's deep voice and slight accent, " You were to be left millions of light years behind, you Louisiana Bastard."

Remy let out an angry breath as he imagined Magneto saying those words.

Rogue wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. "That thing could have killed you last night…"

"The sentinel had a small 'watch list' ." Theoren continued. "Maybe people Magneto is paranoid that might stop the shuttle? "

"Who is on it other than me?" Bobby asked.

Remy leaned into the screen and read over his cousin's shoulder. " Wolverine? Charles Xavier? And Destiny?

""Wolverine I get, he and Mags have always hated each other. But The Professor? What!" Bobby exclaimed.

" An' Destiny?" Rogue was confused. " I figured she'd definitely be boardin' with Mystique…"

"Maybe she doesn't like some of her visions…." Remy looked at Rogue.

" Remy, she may have been the silent partner in that relationship, but that doesn't mean she really cares about me any more than Mystique does." Rogue paused and thought out loud. "Wait a minute…..I was assumin' Destiny might be dead by now , since she's been missin' for months…. An' if Magneto put her on that watch list, that must mean he knows she's not really missin'…?"

"What visions are you guys talking about?" Bobby interrupted Rogue. "This is what this is all about, isn't it? You saw some of her visions…and it involves some bad shit happening to Rogue on the Asteroid?"

Rogue and Remy didn't have to reply. He could read the look of their faces that he had figured out what they were up to.

"You can't-" Rogue began her sentence.

"I got it , Rogue. I totally got it. My lips are sealed..and so is my mind, now that I've taken care of Frosty…." Bobby waved his hand at her to not worry.

"Bobby, about mind readers…We have something to give you for that." Remy said as he exited the room. He returned with a watch.

"Remy, is it our anniversary already?" Bobby joked around. "I didn't get you anything nearly as fancy. I just got you a card."

"Don't worry. He thinks you're worth it." Rogue laughed.

"This chip on the bottom of this watch blocks out telepathic waves. " Remy handed it to him. "Rogue an' I were thinkin' 'bout how lucky we are to be able to block out telepaths naturally. You deserve some privacy too."

"OH COOL!" Bobby exclaimed as he replaced his watch with it.

"You can take the chip off and put it on anythin' else." Rogue explained. "We know that you like watches, so I hope that one fits your style."

"Guys, this is so awesome! Thanks!" Bobby began playing with all the features. His cell phone went off. "OMG! It's Lorna! OMG! It only took her 2 weeks to call me back! OMG! OMG!" He bolted out of the room for some privacy.

"Theoren?" Rogue asked, "Will anybody know we were at the space station last night? We need Old Man Mags to stay in the dark about us. "

" Considerin' we took the sentinel's memory, nobody should know. " He explained. "Unless somebody was lookin' at live footage from the messages on the satellite last night. I shot a virus into the its computer system. So, nobody's gonna be able to pull up any past footage from last night. "

"Good." Remy nodded. " Can we tell if there are more sentinels?"

Thereon clicked through a few more files. "Looks like that was the only one…but it was a prototype…"

"Aha. That must mean there will be more. …." Rogue looked at Remy, "Well, Rem. Sounds like we have another thing to add to our laundry list."

"Yeah. Our lives are gettin' more complicated aren't they?" Remy smiled. "Let's get back to our original plan. Can we get the robot to start lookin' around for Gehirn for us?

"Sure." Thereon switched over to the other computer that was linked with their robot.

"This might take a while." Rogue commented, "Ah'm gonna go an' grab us all some lunch…or is it still breakfast…? Whatever we're supposed to eat when we haven't slept all night. "

Remy smiled at her. "Ok, we'll keep workin' over here. "

Gehirn was the German name Magneto had given his mind-control device. Having originally was built Cerebro with Charles Xavier, Magneto craved to build something stronger. Thus, he recently successfully finished building Gehim. The device amplified his electromagnetic powers so he could control brain functions with it. This was the same device in Destiny's visions that he was going use against Rogue.

From studying Magneto's security system on his place when they stole the De-Ager, Remy learned that it had been built there. It just wasn't being held there. The next assumption was that it was already getting ready to be sent on the shuttle.

After spending the next few hours tracking the robot inside the space station , they found a supply list for Asteroid M. They quickly downloaded into their spy and found the location for Gehim. It wasn't packed on the shuttle. It was actually already on Asteroid M.

"He must have been paranoid that somebody down here would steal it. " Remy laughed. "Let's send our boy up there."

Theoren nodded as he programmed their spy to get itself into a line of other robots that were loading themselves onto the shuttle. "Done. He's all ready to lift off with all his friends this Friday."

"Thank you for everythin' , Theoren." Remy looked at him seriously, "It's good to have family to count on to help with things like this."

"Don't even mention it." Theoren shrugged. " You know how the LeBeau the Marceaux family is. We're always up for doin somethin' that can get us locked up for the rest of our lives. It's fun."

Remy laughed and pulled out two celebratory cigars. "I guess we just sit back an' wait for Friday."

* * *

The bedroom that belonged to Rogue and Remy was very dark and cozy.

Rogue sat up and pulled back the black mosquito netting that was draped around their bed. She looked at the clock, which read 9pm . It was hard to gage whether that was late or early, considering the lack of sleep everybody had the night before. She and Remy went down for a nap in the late afternoon to catch up on their sleep.

She considered getting up, but her Cajun's arms quickly wrapped around her and pulled her back towards him.

"Where you goin' my Sleepin' Beauty?" He mumbled..

She smiled and kissed his forehead. "Are you awake, Sugah?"

"Mmmmhmmmm." Remy responded without opening his eyes.

"Remy, Ah've been thinkin' 'bout this weddin a lot…an' Ah don't know….When when I went to grab us all lunch earlier today, Ah passed up a few bridal shops downtown….I went inside one of them an' next thing Ah know, this sales lady had me tryin' on all these gowns…An' Ah just felt weird 'bout all this…"

Remy immediately opened his eyes and looked alertly into hers. " Anna? Are you havin' doubts?"

"No, no. Of course not!" She rubbed his cheek. " It's just that Ah've never been the type of girl who has spent all her life fantasizin' 'bout what her weddin' day was gonna be like. Hell, Remy, ah never thought Ah'd ever have a great love like this before Ah met you." She kissed Remy .

"It's just that Ah don't need anything fancy. Ah'm not the big poofy white dress type of girl. You know that lookin' like a Disney princess ain't mah style. Ah don't care what the table settings look like or what kind of chair covers we have….nor do Ah care about makin' a list of cheesy love ballads to give our DJ….and Ah don't need a limo….Ah'm fine with sayin' our vows and gettin' on the back of your motorcycle, and ridin' off somewhere fun like we always do…because that's what we do."

"Ok, Anna. What are you getting' at?"

"Remy, Between my mother tryin' to intervene a few days ago…an' how worried Ah was when that Sentinel almost killed you …..What if Magneto tries to have you killed again? " She fought back a tear.

Remy noticed how emotional Rogue was getting and rubbed her back. "He won't kill me. You won't lose me."

"Remy, there's just so much danger in our big mission,….It's like you said when you wanted me to take the elixir… Who knows what will happen to us tomorrow? Remy, Ah don't wanna live another day where Ah am not your wife. Ah wanna start mah life as Mrs. LeBeau right now. Ah don't want to wait. Let's get married tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Remy was shocked.

"Yes!" Rogue exclaimed. " We can call up one of those last minute reverends…get married on the beach right out there…We got your best man an' my man of honor in town. They can be our witnesses.… It would be nice to have Tante Mattie and your father here, but Ah think they'd forgive us..They know we're in love"

"Anna , are you sure?" Remy asked as he sat up in bed.

"Yes! Remy, you an' Ah are always doin' crazy things…an' flyin' off the seat of our pants….. this is exactly our style of a weddin…..totally last minute an' excitin' ." She kissed his cheek.

"Ok, I'll make you a deal. " Remy laughed and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "If I can't spoil you on our weddin' day, I want to on our honeymoon. When we finish this Magneto mission, we'll go on it. So, I'll marry you tomorrow, ma Cherie…but you have to let me take you away for a month on our honeymoon….

"A month?" Rogue shook her head playfully, " Remy, you you don't have to- "

"I want to. " Remy grinned at her, " That's the deal, I get to spoil you on our honeymoon…an' you can't ask me for the price tag on anythin' "

"Ok." Rogue smiled. "Ah'll let you surprise me."

"It's a deal. Let's kiss on it." Remy pulled Rogue into a deep kiss, which was followed by a few more minutes of more kisses. Remy pulled away from her to grab his cell phone. " I know a guy who could marry us. He was just ordained as a reverend last week . Let me see if he's free."

Rogue grinned at him as he called up his friend and booked him for the next evening.

"Ok, does tomorrow night at 7:30 work for you?"

"Yes. …who are you callin' now? Another guy you know that does…somethin'?"

"Yeah, actually my old neighbor in the Big Easy. His daughter just moved here a few months ago and has been tryin' to make a livin' as a photographer. She just graduated recently, but she's amazin' and would be perfect for tomorrow. She could probably use the business."

Rogue watched her man as he convinced the photographer to ditch her job for the day.

"How much do you usually make on your Tuesday night bartending shift?" He asked as he spoke to Emily. " I'll pay you 5 times more….. Great….see you tomorrow. "

He then booked their dinner and hotel reservation .

"Hotel Wit, ma Cherie. You are gonna love it. They've got this great rooftop restaurant. It's one of the best views downtown."

Rogue sat up . She threw her arms around Remy. "It's really happenin! We're doin' it! Let's go tell Theoren an' Bobby!"

She grabbed his hand and they went downstairs, where they found the two watching a movie in the living room.

Bobby looked up at them as they entered. "Rogue, we were just talking about your wedding. I want you to know that I'm taking this Man of Honor thing very seriously." He flipped through a bridal magazine Rogue had bought a few days earlier. " I've got some important questions for you." He paused and looked at Rogue. "Which stripper do you want for the bachelorette party? The fireman or the policeman?"

Rogue laughed. "Or those my only options?"

Theoren laughed and shot his cousin a look, "I guess as Best Man, I should ask you 'bout your bachelor party, Remy. Which stripper do you want? The fireman or the policeman?"

"Those can't be my only options." Remy shook his head laughing.

"Well, here's the thing boys. It doesn't look like there will be time for those parties. " Rogue sat down next to Bobby on the couch. "Bobby, are you headin' off the meet Lorna?"

"Yeah. She promised to grab lunch with me on Friday. She's visiting some friends in Seattle right now and won't be back in Ohio until then."

"Great. So you boys are free tomorrow? Because we decided that what's better way to spend a Tuesday….than gettin' married? "

"What?" Bobby jumped up on the couch. "Are you serious? OMG! OMG! OMG!" This is happening so fast, I don't know what to say!"

"Please say yes." Rogue giggled and stood up on the couch with Bobby. " Please, Bobby, can I marry Remy tomorrow?" She grabbed his hand.

Remy and Theoren laughed at how silly Rogue and Bobby were being.

"Aw shucks. " Bobby imitated Rogue's southern accent, "I reckon Ah cain't deny a Southern gal's wish. Let's go on an' marry Remy tomorrow."

"Yes!" Rogue started jumping on the couch with him.

" Wait! What am I going to wear? I don't have a suit! " Bobby almost slid off the couch as the cushion underneath him slipped.

"Just wear a shirt an' tie. Don't you have plenty of those, Mr. Accountant?"

"Um, yeah. I have tons of shirts and ties with me. ..wait, Theo over there can't look better than me. What are you wearing?"

"The men in our family in The Big Easy got a rule: always have a suit with you . You never know when you'll need to look good." Theoren smiled.

"Shit, that's a good rule. We don't have that one in Long Island. … I have to wear a suit now." Bobby shook his head.

"Bobby, there's a nice suit shop up around the corner on Broadway Avenue. We can stop by in the mornin.' I've got sewing supplies upstairs, and I can take up the cuffs or the hem for you if we need to."

"Sweet!" Bobby smiled.

"Wait a minute, Bobby." Rogue pouted playfully. " As Man of Honor, shouldn't you be worried 'bout what Ah'm wearin' ? Ah am the Bride!"

"No, you're mistaking that role with the Maid of Honor. " He responded. " Traditionally, the Man of Honor, only cares about how he looks on the wedding day. "

"You jerk!" Rogue picked up a pillow and started hitting him with it.

Bobby picked up another pillow and hit her back. The two fought until they toppled over the back of the couch and onto the ground.

"Hey kids, go easy! " Remy came to Rogue's side and kissed her temple. "I need my Bride in one piece tomorrow."


	16. Chapter 16

Rogue and Remy were woken up by the loud banging on their bedroom door.

"Gambit! If you don't open this door in 60 seconds, I'm coming in!" Bobby yelled . "There's a bride in there I need to get ready for the day…..plus, I can't find your waffle iron. Can you go look for it?"

Remy picked up his shoe next to the bed and threw it at the door. "Make yourself some toast, you jerk!"

"Now, why would I eat toast if there's a possibility of waffles?" Bobby sounded baffled.

Remy squeezed his body around Rogue. "I thought we left a mansion full of people who never gave us any privacy a few months ago…..? Or am I dreamin' that happened?"

Rogue laughed and began pulling herself away from him and sat up.

"No, my Chere. Not yet…" Remy grumbled "We didn't get our morning fix yet.." He kissed her naked back as she scanned the room for her robe.

"Oh Remy." She kissed his forehead and got off the bed. Like most men, Remy was his horniest when he woke up the morning. Rogue rarely denied him his morning fun. " Bobby's right. Ah gotta get ready. …plus….Ah want you to have something to look forward to tonight…" She winked at him as she grabbed a sundress.

"But, I'm always lookin' forward to it." Remy moped as he sat up.

"I'm coming in!" Bobby announced.

"No! Don't come in! " Rogue yelled back. " We're still naked."

"Still? Do you guys sleep naked?" Bobby asked. "You two seem like the type who would."

Rogue and Remy got dressed while Bobby continued his rant. "See, I've always wanted to sleep naked too. It must be super sexy and invigorating. …but I'm afraid of getting attacked in the middle of the night. Like what if Omega Sad decided on a sneak attack on your house in the middle of the night? Then, I'd get up from my bed to fight him, and my junk would be hanging out..and it's super hard to fight when you don't have any underwear on to give you the support you need."

Rogue shook her head as she opened the door for Bobby.

He casually walked in with a clipboard and continued his rant. " I guess I'd rather fight naked than fight another man who is naked… because fighting off Naked Neil for you, totally sucked, Rogue." Bobby immediately flashed her an apologetic look. " Oh, shit, sorry."

Remy shot the two of them a bewildered look. "What are you talkin' 'bout? Who is Naked Neil?"

Rogue shook her head at Bobby. " Perfect thing to bring up to my fiance on my weddin' day!"

" I'm sorry, guys." Bobby folded his arms. " But, Rogue, you've looked past a lot of Remy's crazy sexcapade tales…."

"True." Rogue looked at Remy.

"Yeah, she's shy 'bout tellin' me hers…." Remy narrowed his eyes at her. "What happened to this Naked Neil guy?"

" Baby, it was a long time ago, before Ah met you….. Ah was visitin' Bobby an' Ah was hookin' up with this guy, Neil. We had most of our clothes still on, because of mah powers, of course. But, then he started gettin' completely naked, even though Ah told him not to. So I started yellin at him to get out, an' he wouldn't. Ah didn't have any gloves on, an' Ah didn't want to hurt him. So Ah ran out of the guest bedroom an' he chased me out…. He chased me all the way out of Bobby's apartment an' down two flights of stairs, beggin' me to get back in the bedroom. "

Remy couldn't help from smirking a bit. " I'm not surprised that you could drive a man crazy like that, ma Chere."

"Then, I'm coming back from the bar, " Bobby continued the story, " I'm walking up the stairwell, and I see this crazed naked guy chasing Rogue. She's telling him to get away….next thing I know, I'm fighting this slippery naked dude…I've got him in this headlock, but then he trips me and we topple down another flight of stairs. …and I almost got balls in my face. Then, I punched him real hard and he ran out of the building with this horrible busted nose." Bobby put his arm around Rogue and looked over at Remy. " That's right, I wrestled a naked man for this girl, and almost had balls in my face. Tell me there's somebody else that deserves to be Man of Honor more than me."

"No, I don't think anybody else does." Remy laughed. " So what happened to Naked Neil's clothes? He left without them?"

Rogue and Bobby nodded and started laughing uncontrollably.

"I forgot about that part!" Rogue started putting her shoes on. "So, it was around Halloween and Bobby's neighbors downstairs had set up this scarecrow in the front yard….so we put all of Neil's clothes on it!"

"..And then my bat shit crazy landlord comes out the next day and says, 'I don't remember this nice blazer on here before.'…and he asks me if it's mine, and I played dumb. Then Rogue and I saw him wearing it later that year!"

"Your landlord was so weird." Rogue giggled.

Remy smiled at Rogue, " An' nobody back at the X-mansion had any idea of that the quiet, and unassumin' Rogue was up to all this?"

"Nope." Rogue flashed him a devilish look. " Ah didn't want them to make any assumptions 'bout Bobby an' me. So, I told them Ah was visitin' mah family back in Mississippi…which you know Ah haven't done since Ah left that hell hole home town of mine at age 13…"

"I love a sneaky girl…..I'm definitely marryin' right this time." Remy kissed her forehead as she giggled.

"Hey! Hey!" Bobby tapped his clipboard. " Let's get back to business here. I stayed up last night surfing wedding sites about how to out-bridezilla a bridezilla. We've got a tight schedule. "

"What's on your list?" Rogue asked.

" First thing first. How are we feeling about your area?" Bobby motioned towards her underwear. "What kind of wax do we need today? A bikini wax? A Brazilian wax? A turtle wax?"

"Let's do one of the first two." Rogue played along, " Since a turtle wax is somethin' you use on your car. "

"Leave her 'area' alone." Remy shook his head at Bobby.

"What about you, Bobby?" Rogue leaned into him. " Are we manscapping today?"

"Oh, no. Do we think I need it?" Bobby raised his eyebrow and struck a funny pose that made Rogue laugh.

"You look fine." Rogue smiled. "Looks like you got quite a list there. Should we get started?"

"Yes!" Bobby grabbed her arm. "Remy, say your goodbye now. I gotta take her away from you and you won't see her until 7:30 tonight."

"Ok." Remy let out a deep breath. He gave Rogue a tight hug and kiss. He then looked at Bobby, " Remember the deal, ok?"

"Got it." Bobby nodded. "Now get out of here. We have to figure out what she is going to wear. "

"Ok, I'm gonna go shower downstairs." Remy responded as he grabbed some more clothes.

"Wait, what deal are you two talkin' 'bout?" Rogue raised her eyebrow.

"The deal is that Remy is buying all my drinks tonight if I make sure you don't run away and change your mind before 7:30."

Rogue grinned at the two of them ,"Ah'm not changin' my mind boys, unless of course, Naked Neil shows up. Then y'all might have to worry."

Remy laughed and gave her one last kiss before he left the room. Bobby closed the door behind him.

"Ok, Bobby." Rogue said as she entered her walk-in closet. "When we were in N'awlins this last time, Ah bought this beautiful dress. ….Ah was thinkin' 'bout wearin' it for Remy's Birthday, so Ah made sure he didn't see it."  
She pulled a vintage dress out of its plastic cover. "It's not white…. but, fuck it! Ah'm Rogue! Since when do Ah follow rules? If Ah wanna wear green on mah weddin' day, Ah can wear green. It's mah favorite color anyway." She pulled the dress out and showed it to Bobby, who had a blank look on his face.

" It's nice." He responded and scribbled on his clipboard. "I should pick up matching green ties for us guys."

Rogue looked disappointed with his underwhelming reaction to the dress she thought was beautiful.

"Sorry Rogue." Bobby apologized. " As a guy, this part is super boring right now. I have no fashion sense. But I'm glad to be a part of the moment….I'm just happy to be in somebody's wedding..You know my brother never asked me-"

"To be your best man?"

"Yeah- how did you know?"

"I went to that wedding with you, remember? That's the first time you and Lorna broke up an' you needed a last minute date. You were really upset about him not picking you as his best man."

"Oh yeah…" Bobby nodded. "Well, thanks for asking me to be your Man of Honor."

"You've been a great one. " She smiled as she put the dress back in its garment bag. "Are you serious 'bout takin' me around on the things Ah need to do?"

"Totally." Bobby nodded. He found her car keys on the dresser and grabbed them. He looked at his clipboard. " So, what about your hair and make up?"

"There's this salon down in Uptown that Ah've always wanted to check out…..Ah've never had the experience of gettin' my make-up done professionally before…you know, with my powers an' all…..So, Ah'd love to see if they can squeeze me in. It's a Tuesday mornin' so Ah doubt they'd be booked. You can go check out suits at that shop Ah told you 'bout while Ah get that done."

"Cool. Let's do it." Bobby put his arm out and Rogue linked her arm in. He led her out of the bedroom and down the stairs. "Bride coming down the stairs! Are we clear down there?"

"Yeah! We're no where near you. " Theoren yelled back from the kitchen. " By the way, I found the waffle iron!"

"Awesome. Wait here." Bobby pulled Rogue through the front door and ran back inside the house quickly. He returned with a stack of syrup covered waffles wrapped up in a paper towel. " Got our breakfast. Let's roll."

Rogue shook her head at him as they walked towards her convertible.

About an hour and half later, after finishing up a fantastic 1940s hair style on her, the hair stylist led Rogue out of the back of the salon. He beckoned her to sit in a make-up chair in the front of the salon.

"Ah really love mah hair, thank you." She beamed at him while looking in the mirror.

"You look lovely." He smiled, " Juan will be out in a moment to do your make-up. Good luck tonight."

"Thank you again." Rogue smiled and slipped a generous tip into his hand. She admired herself in the mirror more and then focused her hearing on the conversation happening in the front of the salon.

"Well, yes, I'm the Man of Honor." Bobby boasted. Rogue could see a garment bag next to him. She assumed he must have found a suit. A small group of women was huddled around him.

"Yeah, she recently had a falling out with our family back in New York. It was pretty bad. Nobody is on speaking terms with her. But, I thought it was important that at least one person from the family be here. It's her wedding day after all."

Rogue grinned at that comment. She was also happy to see that Bobby was getting some female attention that he deserved. All of the women in the waiting area were smiling at him.

"Awwww. That is the sweetest thing. You are such a great brother. " The receptionist flirted with him.

Another woman was rubbing his arm.

"It' s the least I could do. " He looked happily at all the attention he was getting and decided to ride it out for as long as he could. "Can I get your ladies opinion on something? What do you all think of my suit ?"

Rogue laughed to herself and peaked down at a text from Remy on her cell phone.

"The hour you become Mrs. LeBeau can't come quickly enough. Love you."

Rogue smiled at her phone and sent a text back. "Calm down. I gotta live up my last few hours as Ms. Connoly over here. Love you too."

She received a quick response. "You can always hyphenate. Being a full on LeBeau can bring you a lot of trouble. "

Rogue thought about it for a moment. She had always thought it was cool when women kept their maiden names or hyphenated. However, becoming a LeBeau was about a change she needed, and not about her holding onto her family.

She texted Remy back. "No, I'm going in all the way. Mrs. Anna LeBeau it is."

Anna Connoly-LeBeau had a cool ring to it. However, she hadn't spoken with her real family in over 15 years. So, she really didn't feel a connection to what being a Connoly meant. After getting to know the LeBeau family, she felt she understood them better than any family she had associated with. She was very excited about becoming one of them.

She felt like she had lived the life of three different lives. She started off as Anna Dechant in her father's house. When Mystique adopted her, she was a new person as Anna Darkholme. She then started a new life with the X-men, changing her name to Anna Connoly.

Her life was different now, and she wanted a new name again. She wanted to be a new person. It was time to become Anna LeBeau.

"Hey!" Bobby noticed Rogue and shook his finger at her. "No texting each other!"

Rogue stuck her tongue out at him.

The make-up artist showed up and worked his magic on her. Forty-five minutes later, Rogue stood up and walked over to Bobby, who was still busy flirting with all the women.

"Whoa. Rogue, " Bobby's jaw dropped as he noticed her. He stood up to admire her. " You look beautiful!"

All the women agreed.

"You look like a 1940s movie star." The receptionist nodded at her.

"Aw, thank you. That's the look we were goin' for! " Rogue gushed at everybody. She had never felt so pretty and couldn't wait to see Remy's reaction. "We left a little room on the side of mah hair to put in a hair piece…Ah think Ah'm gonna just pin some flowers in….what do you think , big brother?"

Bobby looked down at his clipboard," Well, a florist is on my list. Wanna go there next? Do we also need boutonnieres…or a bouquet for you?"

Rogue thought about as she paid for her services at the receptionist desk.

"You know what…?" She made a decision. "I wanna pick some flowers from mah own garden. This is mah first time ever havin' one and it would be so much more special to use mah own flowers…I've been growin' these beautiful orchids….an' these great chrysanthemums and hydrangeas. They're all green and would match perfectly with mah dress. The more green, the better! "

"Ok, so back to the house?" Bobby asked as they left the salon.

"Actually, let's hit up a craft shop quickly. Ah wanna grab a few pins, some floral wire, an'…maybe some ribbon to tie the bouquet together. There's Michael's Arts and Crafts in Lakeview."

"Ok, let's hit it." Bobby sad as they got into Rogue's car. "By the way, guess who got some digits in there…."

"Great! Who?" Rogue smiled at him.

"The receptionist. Carly."

"She's totally cute." Rogue flashed Bobby a grin.

"I guess I still got 'it'. I thought I lost 'it' but I apparently still have whatever 'it' is…and the best way to celebrate 'it' is by singing along to this awesome Outkast song. He turned up the radio.

"hey! Alright now! Alright now, fellas! … Yea? Now what's cooler than being cool?…"

Rogue giggled as he changed the lyrics.

"Ice Man!"

"I can't hear ya! I say what's cooler than being cool?… ICE MAN!"

Rogue sang along with him while Bobby busted out silly dance moves with his shoulders and clapped along to the song.

Moments later, the two were standing in line at the craft store. Rogue looked over at one of the employees stocking merchandise and squeezed Bobby's arm.

"Oh mah god," She whispered. "It's Sticky Stanley."

"Sticky Stanley?" Bobby looked around. " That fling you had…or you tried to have? Where?"

Rogue pointed him out.

"That's Sticky Stanley? Is this the one who would always throw premature loads on himself before you two could do it?"

"Yup." Rogue giggled.

"Wow. He's so much older than I thought."

"Yeah, Ah was 20 back then an' he was like 28 or 29.… "

"He was 28 or 29?" Bobby laughed. "That's a problem you have when you're a teenager. Not when you're pushing 30."

An old woman behind them shook her head in shock.

"Pardon us." Bobby cleared his throat.

"You know Ah wouldn't be laughin' at his problem if he hadn't been such an asshole to me." Rogue continued. " He was a musician an super arrogant. He was always makin' fun of mah accent an' tryin' to make me feel like Ah was the dumbest person he had met. Ah found out he was callin' me a Redneck behind mah back…. Ah don't know why Ah ever wasted mah time on him…"

Rogue's face went pale as Sticky Stanley noticed her and waved. She reluctantly waved back.

"Hi…. Stacey?" He called to over to Rogue and started walking over.

" 'Stacey' ?" Bobby whispered, " Was that your SFN?"

"Yup" Rogue responded quickly to Bobby to his question about her " Standard Fake Name" .

"Stace, you look beautiful." Stanley smiled at Rogue.

"Hey Stan. How are you?" Rogue smiled back. "So, how's life…looks like you work here now?"

Bobby was trying very hard not to laugh. He looked over his shoulder at the old woman behind them. He quietly mouthed to her, " Can you believe this?"

The old woman looked shocked, but then actually started smirking.

"Yeah, you know, it's a gig until , you know the band gets big."

"Wow. What a coincidence that Ah run into you, Stan. " Rogue smirked. " We were just standin' in line an' there you just CAME out of nowhere."

Bobby put his hand over his mouth to keep his chuckle in from Rogue's joke.

"Who is this?" Stan glared at Bobby.

"I'm her brother…..Timothy." Bobby composed himself and put his hand out for a handshake. "Stacey's getting married today, so we were just picking up a few items from your lovely store here. "

"Married?" Stan smiled at her. " Aw , too bad, I was going to see if you wanted to get together for a drink sometime and catch up."

"Yeah, my fiance would have an issue with that." Rogue smiled.

"Oh, he's a fine young man, her fiance." Bobby smiled at Stan. " He's very TENACIOUS. I've never met a man with so much STAMINA. I just know in my heart that he's the one for her. He is going to LAST long."

Stan's face sunk as he caught on to the fact that Bobby knew about his problem. He looked over at Rogue who was holding in a laugh. He fumbled with his words, "Ok, well it was nice seeing you, Stacey. Congrats on the wedding. I should get back to work…" He quickly ran to the back of the store.

The older woman behind them started giggling softly.

"Funny, right?" Bobby looked at her as Rogue reached the register to pay for their items.

Once they left the store, Bobby and Rogue fell into uncontrollable laughter.

"That guy was such a joke. Those were the dumbest tattoos I have ever seen. I can't believe he had the nerve to make fun of you. …..Ok, let's head back." Bobby finally overcame his laughter. He pulled out his cell phone and called Remy. " Hey Gambit. I've got the Bride returning to the house. So, we'll need you to scram….By the way, Remy, you have to escort Rogue to Michael's Arts and Crafts sometime…"

Rogue slapped Bobby's arm.

"Ow!" He winced. " Nevermind, Remy…yeah….. Wait…. Are you kidding me?!" He looked concerned.

Rogue looked at him confused. "What's going on?"

" Nothing that the Bride needs to worry about….." Bobby shook his head at her. " I, uh just need some caffeine, Rogue. I'm going to stop into this coffee shop. You need anything?"

"No…. Ah'm good. Go on ahead. Ah'll wait in the car." Rogue took the car keys from Bobby and continued to stare at him as he entered the coffee shop. He was still chatting on his cell with Remy.

Rogue walked slowly back over to her car, wondering what the conversation was about.

"Rogue?" A voice and and hand on her shoulder startled her as she reached her car door handle.

She turned around and raised her eyebrow in shock at the owner of the English accent. She focused on the site of Pyro. "John?"

"Rogue, did I give you a fright? I apologize." Pyro walked up to her and looked her up and down. "You look incredible."

"Oh, thank you. Ah- uh just had mah hair and make up done. " She shifted her posture so she was standing up very straight.

"Wow." Pyro shook his head, " They did a great job. You look….simply stunning."

Rogue nodded uncomfortably. "Thank you, John."

"Listen , I heard you left the X-men? Is that true?"

"Yeah."

" Well, I've left the Brotherhood. "

"Really? That's good." Rogue folded her arms across her chest.

" Yes, I really should have done it a long time ago…..you, know, when you asked me to leave with you." He looked sadly into her eyes.

"John-" Rogue shook her head. "Please don't -"

" I was awfully mean to you, Rogue. I shouldn't have sold you out like that -"

"John, it was a long time ago... There's no need to go back to that…. Ah'm glad to hear you're out if it now."

"Yes, I've been taking the time to get cleaned up. I'm in a program now." Pyro continued. " The Brotherhood was just enabling my problems."

"Yeah, they were good for that." Rogue kept her posture straight as Pyro continued to check her out. It was awkward seeing him one-on-one. However, of all the days Pyro could have run into her , she was glad it was the day where she looked amazing in her sun dress and with her makeup and hair done. Pyro, in contrast, looked unkempt and fatigued.

"I always wondered what it would it would have been like if I had left with you and joined the X-men….. When you did…" He continued. "It must have been tough to do that by yourself…. You probably could have used someone to go with you…"

" It's ok. It wasn't really your style to be there for me when I needed you anyway. " Rogue gave him a cold look.

Pyro looked away in the distance.

"It was hard." Rogue broke the uncomfortable silence. " They hated me for a very long time before they accepted me….Well, before Ah thought they had accepted me…"

" Was it bad? When you left?" He leaned into her.

"Um, yeah." She pushed him back slightly out of her personal space. " Ah don't want to talk about it."

"Ok, I understand. " Pyro nodded and took another step back. " I just can't get over how beautiful you look. I mean, you were always so pretty but, you look even more…"

"John. Please don't -" Rogue let out a big breath.

" I'd love to get together sometime with you and-"

"John, Ah don't think that's a good idea." Rogue responded in a cold voice.

"I deserve that." Pyro looked down at the ground. " After everything I've done to you… If I were you, I would not want to ever see me again….." There was a terrible silence between them before Pyro changed the subject. "Listen, I know you've left the X-men, but have you seen your teammate, Wolverine, any time lately?"

"No." Rogue lied. "Why?"

"Avalanche…he 's the reason I'm here in Chicago…He's been in the hospital for long time now and pretty badly sliced up. He can barely talk, but he managed to whisper something about Wolverine…. I need to get back at that twat for what he did to my best friend."

Rogue's face got a little pale, but she then composed herself quickly. " Oh, wow. Ah'm sorry to hear 'bout Avalanche. Ah really haven't spoken to any of the X-men , except for this guy." She smiled at Bobby who was walking towards them.

"NO! NO! NO!" Bobby rushed over to them, "Absolutely, under no circumstances! I am disallowing this conversation right now!"

"Who is this?" Pyro looked at him confused, " Wait, you are that silly little ice guy, aren't you?"

"Yes, that's right ." Bobby began imitating Pyro's English accent, "I am the ice guy. What's your problem? Did you get up on the wrong side of your cage this morning? "

"Bobby, it's ok." Rogue assured Bobby. " He was just gettin' on his way."

"What exactly is your problem with me?" Pyro stepped in closer to Bobby.

"My problem with you." Bobby continued in an English accent, " Is that this girl is getting married today, and I am not allowing any interactions with ex-boyfriends who may make her upset. "

"You're getting married?" Pyro looked over at Rogue, "To this guy? Well, that's pretty pathetic, but at least a small step up from that slimy thief loser ."

Rogue punched Pyro's face so hard and quickly that he fell backwards and against the brick wall of the coffee shop.

A small crowd looked on with shock.

"Don't worry, everybody. He totally deserved that." Bobby announced.

"Not that it's any of your business, " Rogue glared at Pyro. " But Ah AM marryin' that slimy thief. An' if he's a slimy thief, he's still a bunch of steps up from the bottom feeder you are!"

A group of women applauded her.

Pyro was stunned from the speed of her hit and slowly tried standing up while the women assaulted him with insults.

"Rogue, let's go." Bobby said to Rogue. They got in the car quickly and sped off.

A few hours later, everything was ready for the wedding, except for Rogue's nerves. She was staring at her bouquet. She looked up at the ceiling, and then across the living room at Bobby. He was drinking a soda and playing video games in his shirt, tie, jacket, and boxer shorts,

"Bobby when are you planning on putting your pants on?" Rogue asked. " I hemmed them for you over an hour ago."

"Oh, yeah, I should probably do that now. " He looked over at Rogue. " What? I spent a long time ironing them, and I didn't want them wrinkled."

Rogue laughed a little and then began pacing the living room.

Bobby slipped his pants on and checked himself out in the hallway mirror.

"Damn, I look good." Bobby said to himself as he adjusted his boutonniere that Rogue had made earlier with some green chrysanthemums.

"Did you give Remy and Theoren their boutonnieres too? " Rogue asked nervously.

"Yup. I also gave them these green ties I picked up the store earlier. We are all the hottest matching studs ever." Bobby continued to spin in front of the mirror. " Look at what you are missing, Lorna….. Look at what you are missing…"

Rogue looked out the window and watched Remy and Theoren walking over to the beach. They shook hands with a young woman holding a camera.

"That must be the photographer. " Rogue said to herself. "But, where's the reverend?" Her heart started racing as she watched Remy laughing. He looked so happy and she couldn't wait to join him there.

"He'll be there." Bobby responded to Rogue.

" Bobby , do you think all the flowers look ok?" Rogue asked, "I mean do you think we should have gone with a florist?" She looked down at her bouquet of light green hydrangeas and orchids with doubt.

"Uh oh, I've been waiting for Bridezilla to come out!" Bobby looked over at her.

"Bobby, Ah'm sorry….Ah'm just a little jittery, Ah guess….well, excited, actually…" Rogue breathed out. "Ah can't believe this is happening."

"Ok, Rogue, let's calm down." He grabbed Rogue's arm and pulled her down to the couch. " I think all the flowers are all very pretty. It's really cool how you picked them from your garden. I really like the ones in your hair the most."

Rogue smiled as she patted the chrysanthemums and orchid in her hair.

"You look wonderful, Rogue." Bobby smiled at her. " Hey, remember that time I found out Cyclops had a facebook account? It was such a big deal because we were all banned from having facebook accounts for security reasons?"

"Yeah." Rogue smiled. "And then you set up at that fake facebook account for you and me?"

"Yeah, I had us pose all cheesy in our profile photo and made it look like we were a famous ice dancing pair. I'd post those fake updates about those competitions in Russia we lost in. Do you have any idea how many phone calls I got from my mother asking me if I had lost my mind?"

Rogue giggled," Why did Cykes get so mad at us for that anyway? It was a completely fake page. It didn't give out any real information about us."

"Oh, that's because I wouldn't accept his friend request." Bobby laughed. "I don't know what that story had to do with your wedding today, but I thought it was funny and you need to laugh out those nerves…are you still jittery?"

"I'm less jittery, yes…but still a little anxious…" Rogue looked at him for more help.

"Ok. Let's think back to everything that we've learned today…The theme has been the men from our past." Bobby grabbed Rogue's hand and held it in between his. " We are going to walk right out that door , stroll up that beach, and marry Remy LeBeau because he is the best man there is. He is kind, understanding, sweet, and totally in love with you…He doesn't donate his clothing to crazy landlords while running around naked in the streets like Naked Neil did…He knows how to wait to actually fuck you before blowing his load, unlike Sticky Stanley….and he's not an abusive loser like Pyro who blamed his alcohol problem on you instead of getting himself help and who was also terrible in the sack…..Hell, I'm starting to convince myself that I want to marry Remy now."

Rogue laughed. "Yeah, but there's a big problem with you marrying him, Bobby. We've already discussed how much you hate balls in your face earlier today."

Bobby laughed hard, " You know what? Sometimes I think I'd be great at being a gay man. I'm hot. I love to gossip. I can hip hop dance. It would make my close-minded, ignorant parents cry…. But, ultimately, I just don't like balls in my face. …but if I did, I'd be shoving you into the pool outside, and getting myself on the back of your man's motorcycle with him right now."

Rogue laughed so hard at that visual she had to wipe a tear from her eye. "Oh, Bobby. Thanks for makin' me laugh. I was just a little nervous."

A voice from the den was heard, " I'd be a little more than nervous if I had marry that swamp rat."

"What the hell?" Rogue looked up alarmed.

"Shit! You were supposed to stay quiet!" Bobby yelled towards the den.

Rogue got up and ran into the den. Her jaw dropped at who she saw sprawled out on a bloody tarp on the floor in the middle of room. "WOLVERINE? What? What are you doin' here?"

Bobby quickly ran behind Rogue. "Don't freak out, Rogue. Wolverine, you are such a douche bag. You were told that you can stay if you are quiet. " He walked right up to him and shook his finger at him , "Listen here, you are NOT going to fuck this up for me! This is my special day as Man of Honor, and you can't ruin it for me!"

"Bobby! What the hell?" Rogue tried to make sense of the situation. She ran over to Wolverine's side , " Logan, you're hurt. …what do we do..?"

"Mutant healin' power is workin' . Don't worry about it," Wolverine shooed her away.

"Should we move you to the couch…somewhere more comfortable?"

"No. I like the floor. It feels good on my back."

Bobby pulled Rogue away from Wolverine. " Let's stay back, Bride. We don't need blood all over your dress."

"What happened? What happened to you?" Rogue asked. "We'll have to postpone the weddin' "

"No! No!" Bobby exclaimed. " This is exactly why Remy didn't want you to know about Wolverine being here. He didn't want you to cancel and feel like we all have to stay here and take care of him. "

Wolverine coughed. " Your Cajun an' me worked out a deal. None of you ask me any questions and let me stay here until my body heals….an' I'll return you the favor… Like we did last time."

"Ok…." Rogue looked at him confused. " You spoke with Remy?"

"Yeah, I dragged myself over here earlier today…. I need a place to heal where nobody will look for me. "

"Aha. " Rogue nodded, " Since you and Remy have been notorious for hatin' each other , this is the last place anybody would think to look."

"Yeah. Something like that." Wolverine winced at some pain in his side.

"Wait…Remy took you in an' you're still makin' sarcastic comments about him? You are a fuckin' jerk!" Rogue scowled at him. " You are always such a jerk to him even after he helps you out. Ah outta test how fast that mutant healin' power works when Ah kick your head in!"

" Calm down, Rogue." Bobby pulled her further away from Wolverine. " Let him be yet another example of the men we've ran into today. Aren't you happy that you are NOT marrying him today? I mean, can you imagine how much time you'd spend every day pulling hair clots out of the shower drain? It would be like the wild west where that tumbleweed would roll by, but it would be full of his hair."

"Go fuck yourself , Drake." Wolverine narrowed his eyes at him.

"I'd tell you to do the same , but you wouldn't have the physical strength to do it right now, would you?" Bobby exclaimed. " Now, you listen to me, Wolverine, Logan, Uncle Wolvie, or whatever your real name is. " He leaned into him and scowled. "My best friend is trying to get married over here and I am not going to let you destroy this day! It's supposed to be a really fucking special day! As Man of Honor, there are only so many weird ex-flings, English ex-boyfriends, and bloody ex-teammates that I can handle running into today. So, shut up , heal up, and get the fuck out of here!"

Bobby started pulling Rogue out of the den.

"Wait." She looked over at Wolverine. " I thought you might want to know that I ran into Pyro earlier today…..he was askin' if I've seen you. His good friend, Avalanche, is ALIVE and mentioned your name in something you may have been involved in."

"Avalanche?" Wolverine breathed out deeply, " Don't worry about . I go it."

Rogue nodded and walked towards the door.

"Hey, Rogue wait." Wolverine called out to her.

"What is it?" She asked.

" Sorry about all this. …I am uh….I'll be outta here in a few hours. ….You…uh... look very nice….very pretty. . Stop worryin' about me an' go get married."

"Ok…thanks." Rogue nodded.

Bobby closed the door and shrugged at her.

"Yeah I know." Rogue whispered, " He is the weirdest at giving compliments."

Bobby looked out the window at his watch. "OMG! It's almost 7:30. The reverend is there. " He grabbed Rogue's hands and jumped around with her. " OMG! Are you ready to get married?"

"Absolutely." Rogue took a deep breath. " Enough of runnin' into all these people from mah past…I wanna run into Remy LeBeau's arms."


	17. Chapter 17

Lake Michigan's waves crash hard against the sand. Remy had been instructed to look out at the lake until his Bride was ready for him to see her. The anticipation was killing him. He took a deep breath and focused on the waves again.

"How was she doing today?" Remy asked Bobby.

Bobby smiled over at his friend. He had to calm down Rogue with his humor a few moments ago, and now Remy needed the same. " You have no idea how many drinks you owe me tonight, Ace. Every guy in this town was trying to plead his case last-minute to her. You're so lucky I was around. …You totally owe me like 3 bottles of Patron, plus interest."

Remy let out a laugh. "You'll probably drink that much tonight, won't you?"

"Well….yeah…vodka or whiskey I can probably down that much of. …tequila is crazy…I become a monster off of that." Bobby pulled his sunglasses off and put them in his pocket.

"What about moonshine from N'awlins?" Theoren flashed Bobby a flask from his pocket. " I had to slip my cousin over here some for his nerves."

"Cool! Is that homemade?" Bobby raised his eyebrow and reached for the flask.

"Hey, Freezey. " Remy shook his head. "The ceremony is going to start any minute."

"But I need something to calm my nerves too. " Bobby protested.

"Fine." Remy let out a deep breath while his cousin passed Bobby the flask. Remy started hearing the clicking of the photographer's camera nearing them.

"She must be comin' close, huh?" He looked sideways at Theoren.

"Yeah, you're a lucky man, Remy. She looks gorgeous." His cousin responded.

"Ok, buddy." Bobby patted Remy's shoulder. " The Bride is ready for you to turn around now."

Remy turned around and froze at the site of Rogue walking towards him.

All the sounds of the beach were muted. The world behind her was a blur. The wind was sucked out of the air around him. He couldn't see, hear, or breathe in anything but Rogue. He struggled to catch up with his breath as he looked at her up and down.

Her glam makeup accentuated her already beautiful features. Her lips were hot red and sultry. He wished he could kiss them right there. Her vintage hair style was so cute and parted her white stripe playfully to one side. Remy smiled at the creative "veil" on the other side of her hair. It consisted of a small bit of tulle peaking out from underneath a cluster of flowers.

He wasn't too surprised she was wearing green and not white. His Bride always marched to her own drum. Her silk dupioni dress had a sweetheart-shaped neckline with lace straps that held up her perfect cleavage. Remy trailed his eyes over her curvaceous hips. Tiny satin covered buttons in a lighter shade of green trailed down the entire center front of the dress. Her hem ended just above her knee, and a lace ruffle bordered it. It was short in the front and elongated into a train ending at the middle of her calves in the back.

He had no idea how she could pull off looking so soft and edgy at the same time, but he loved it. She looked exactly like the type of woman she was, classy and sensual.

Just before reaching Remy's side, Rogue handed Bobby her flirty peep-toe heels to hold for her. He gave them both a cheesy wink and flashed them a thumbs up sign.

Rogue then walked up to Remy and looked deeply into this eyes.

He anxiously took her hand in his and leaned into her ear. "Anna, you are so beautiful….tres jolie* " (very pretty*) He kissed her forehead.

"Thank you. You look pretty good too, handsome." She flashed him a flirtatious look and softly kissed his cheek. She looked over at the Reverend and breathed in the late Summer scene of the beach.

The weather was warm and just a bit humid. The sand felt wonderful under her toes. The waves in the lake were so loud, they were almost roaring. The beach wasn't too crowded, but each person that was there had stopped what he or she was doing to watch what was going on.

Rogue felt something tugging at her dress. She looked down to find a seven year old girl looking up at her. "Congratulations!" She sweetly said.

" Oh, thank you." Rogue grinned at her.

The little girl's mother quickly grabbed her away from Rogue. " I'm so sorry about that ! Let's get out of there way, honey."

The Reverend smiled at that scene and then looked up at Rogue and Remy. He began the ceremony.

As he began speaking, Rogue smiled at Remy and found it hard to pay attention. She thought back to their first date. He had pestered her one for weeks, and she finally gave in. She never admitted it to anybody, but she wanted to say yes to him from the start, but she was too scared. He looked so sexy waiting for her on his motorcycle. She had spent two hours figuring out what to wear, and knew she had picked the right outfit when he gaped at her and burned her with his eyes.

" Now we will have our bride and groom exchange some words for each other." The Reverend looked over at Remy.

The downside of getting married so last minute was that they didn't have time to prepare her vows. They had agreed to just to improvise and speak from their hearts.

Remy cleared his throat and squeezed Rogue's hand. " Anna, just a moment ago, when you were walkin' up to me, I could barely breathe. It reminded me of the same feelin' I had the first time I ever saw you. You had walked into the war room and you took my breath away without even sayin' a word to me. Then you looked at me, and you made the world stand still. You may not have been able to physically touch me for the longest time…but you've touched my soul like no one else could."

Remy paused to admire the way Rogue was beaming ear to ear.

"You are the strongest person I've ever met, Anna ." Remy continued, "You've overcome so many horrible experiences by yourself, that I wish I just could erase for you. I have always looked up to you as an inspiration…Anna, you are my hero….."

Rogue heard someone sniffling behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Bobby wiping his eye. He looked embarrassed, so she quickly turned back to look at Remy.

"You've taught me so much about love. You've made me reconsider all the selfish ways I was looking as the world, and have made me a better person. You've seen positive things inside me that I didn't even know were there. Anna, I am so honored to have you as my wife. I love you. I vow to be the kindest, most faithful, most generous, and most lovin' husband that you deserve." With that, Remy kissed her hand.

The Reverend nodded at looked at Rogue to start speaking, but she was at a loss for words. After Remy's sweet words, she couldn't even remember her own speech she had pondered about all day in the back of her head.

"Remy, there are no words that can even begin to express how much you mean to me.. . . Ah've felt very alone  
in mah life for a long time an' Ah convinced mahself that Ah was happy that way.. . " She felt her voice tremble, but she fought back her emotions. Remy squeezed her hands tighter as she somehow found a way to continue speaking .  
" Then Ah met you… an' you showed me a better life. Remy, you said that Ah'm the strongest person you know. You, in return, are the strongest person Ah know. Even though you can't ever erase all the bad things that've happened to me, you have been the only person in mah life who has had the courage to break the walls Ah had built to keep anybody from gettin' close to me….You've been so strong to not back down when Ah've pushed you away…You've been so strong to take on mah pain with me. You've shown me how to conquer it."

Rogue's emotions took over her, and she paused to wipe a tear from her eye. However, Remy was already wiping it gently from her eye. "Nobody in mah life has ever done what you have for me. You have loved me so unconditionally an' Ah vow to love you back the same way. Ah vow to be a faithful, supportive, and caring wife to you." She kissed the hand Remy had used to wipe her tear.

The Reverend nodded at them and continued the ceremony. "Remy, and Anna, Have you two come here freely today to give yourselves to each other into marriage?"

"We have." They both spoke.

The Reverend turned to Remy. "Remy LeBeau, will you have this woman to be your wedded wife?"

"I will." Remy responded without any hesitation.

Rogue did the same when it was her turn.

The vows continued. Remy stared deeply at his Bride after he slipped a ring on her finger. He never imagined this moment was possible. With his dark past, he never expected Rogue to have stuck by him for all this time.

He focused on her lips as she said the vows he had just said to her, "I, Anna, take, you Remy, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as we both shall live." She slid a ring on his finger. " Remy, take this ring as a sign of my commitment and fidelity to you."

"Remy and Anna," The Reverend spoke, "in so much as the two of you have agreed to live in Matrimony, have promised your commitment, to each other by these vows, and the giving of these rings, by the authority vested in me by the State of Illinois, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife."

Both Remy and Rogue were startled by an explosion of confetti. They looked over at Bobby, who was holding a confetti gun.

"What?" He shrugged. "You guys were out of rice. You have to scale back on making so much jambalaya."

The Reverend smiled at him, " Sir, the ceremony isn't over. There is one last part…." He looked over at the Bride and Groom. "You may now kiss the bride"

Rogue teared up at the words she had just heard. Having been such a prisoner to her powers, she had never imagined this moment, the ability to kiss her groom on her wedding day, to be possible. She looked over at the man who made it possible for her and gave herself up into his arms.

Remy pulled Rogue close to his body and gave her a devilish grin before giving her the type of long and delicious kiss she couldn't have even dreamed of in any of her wildest fantasies.

The sound of childrens' laughter enveloped them and they were splashed with water. When they pulled themselves away from their kiss, they saw Theoren and Bobby encouraging all the children in the area to cup water from the lake into their hands and fling it at them.

"Hey!" Remy yelled at his cousin, who had just splashed him.

"Bobby already told you. You guys didn't have any rice." Theoren laughed.

The photographer, Emily, was having a blast taking hundreds of photos of the water fight.

She got some great shots of Rogue charging at Bobby and trying to shove him into the water.

She snapped more photos of his retaliation when he picked up Rogue and tried to launch her into the lake.

More photos were snapped as the Groom came to save his Bride.

She caught some photos of the kids pushing Bobby for being so mean. He fell backwards into the lake, soaking his pants.

She continued to snap photos of the whole bridal party laughing about this as they walked back towards the house.

Emily couldn't help from joining in on the laughter as she snapped more photos of Bobby drying his pants with Rogue's blow dryer. He got frustrated with how long it was taking, so everybody followed him down to the laundry room for another funny photo.

Emily posed Rogue and Remy with their arms around each other in the front. Theoren stood next to them, smiling. Bobby sat on top of the dryer, looking sad and pantless, with a beer in his hand.

"That is too funny!" Rogue laughed at the image when Emily showed it to her on the camera.

"Ok, how about some close-ups of the Bride and Groom while we wait for these pants?" Emily suggested. Rogue and Remy followed her outside to their yard.

About thirty minutes later, Emily finished taking a few fun photos of them kissing on top of their half-rehabbed Dodge Charger. Bobby and Theoren joined them outside.

"Ok, everybody can calm down and continue the day." Bobby announced ."I look good again."

"Thank God you look good, Bobby. Ah was gettin' worried. " Rogue walked up to him. " Now what about…you know..things that are still in the house?"

"Oh, yeah. I checked in our 'pet ferret'. " He winked at Rogue just before sliding his sunglasses on. "He is already sitting up and drinking lots of water. We'll be ready to release him back into the wild very soon."

Emily noticed Theoren sticking a "Just Married" sign onto Remy's motorcycle . She asked in a bewildered tone,  
"Is that how you guys are getting to the hotel?"

"This is how we go everywhere." Rogue grabbed Remy's hand and led him over to it.

"But your dress….?" Emily stared at the Bride in shock.

Rogue extended her left leg onto Remy's lap as he sat down his bike.

"Ah'm not gonna let a dress get in my way of havin' fun." Rogue shrugged and smirked at Remy.

He pulled out a pocket knife and carefully cut a slit up the side of Rogue's dress. Emily got over her shock and quickly snapped some images of the extremely sexy scene.

" There's plenty of room in here for ladies who don't want to slash their dresses." Bobby called out to Emily from the driver's seat in Rogue's convertible. Theoren was making himself comfortable in the back seat.

"This is the coolest wedding I have ever been to." Emily laughed as she got in the car.

"Well, that's because they invited the COOLEST guy to be here. " Bobby changed himself into his ice form for a minute as Emily giggled. He flashed her a smile and started the car.

Remy pulled his motorcycle out of the driveway and onto Sheridan Road. He could hear Rogue giggling as cars around them honked upon noticing the "Just Married" sign. Cheering erupted around them when he gave his bride a quick kiss at the stop light just before he turned on Lake Shore Drive. Emily captured their moment on camera in the lane next to them.

As the light turned green, and Remy turned left onto the highway, he thought back to the first time Rogue got on the back of his motorcycle. It was their first date, and when she came out of the mansion, he couldn't help but gawk at her. He remembered how his blood rushed when he felt her arms wrapping around his waist. As he drove off , Wolverine and Beast followed behind them in a car. They didn't trust him with any of the women on the team and had threatened to chaperone.

Remy smiled back at the car that was following them now. It was a car of people who were so happy for them, and not shooting him dirty looks for stealing Rogue away.

Rogue hugged her husband tightly as they rode towards downtown Chicago. One of her favorite things about living in Chicago was riding on Lake Shore Drive. She loved watching all of the recreational activities along the lakefront that contrasted the busy city existing on the other side of the highway. Sometimes she's take her car out and drive along the highway to just clear her head.

As they rode past Foster street, she glanced over at all the kids playing soccer. When they reached Belmont, she smiled at all the calm white boats in the beautiful harbor. North Avenue beach was full of busy volleyball players.

Remy slowed down the bike as he pulled off at the Michigan Avenue exit. Rogue had never seen this historic street so quiet. Then again, she had usually strolled up it during the day, when it was full of the morning rush, shoppers, tourists, fast cabs, and street performers.

Remy pulled over to the side a few times on the street for quick photo sessions near popular Chicago landmarks. They took photos kissing underneath the Hancock Building, near the Water Tower, near the Chicago Sun-Times Building, and on the Michigan Avenue Bridge.

Growing up as country gal, Rogue had never imagined herself to fall in love with such an urban setting. Chicago had made an impression on her, and she loved spending her wedding day admiring it with her husband.

When they finally neared the Wit Hotel , Remy pulled Rogue into one last photo. He kissed her under the famous vertical "CHICAGO" sign on the Chicago Theater.

Rogue gushed at the site of the posh and stylish lobby when they entered the Wit.

"Remy, maybe we should get chairs like that for our living room?" Rogue said to him as she looked at the fashionable black armchairs.

"Sure. You can do whatever you want to our living room, Mrs. LeBeau." He put his arm around her and led them to the front desk.

She smiled back at him. Before he had bought her the house, she had never had a home of her own to decorate.

"Can you send our overnight bags up to our room?" Remy asked the concierge. "I don't want my wife to see the room until after dinner….at the end of the night."

"Remy." Rogue squeezed his hand as they walked towards the elevator. " Can you call me that again?"

"Sure." He smiled at her as he hit the button for the rooftop on the elevator. They got inside alone. " Would my wife like me to kiss her?"

"Yes, I'd love my husband to kiss me." She responded with a smirk.

They wrapped themselves into each other arms and kissed the entire way up to the roof.

Rogue was stunned at the beauty of the rooftop lounge. Rich white couches bordered the perimeter of the lounge. The ceiling to floor windows showed off an amazing view of the downtown buildings.

Remy led her out of the enclosed lounge and onto the open deck, which boasted even more Chicago buildings.  
The furniture out here was even more opulent. Candles everywhere created wonderful colors.

"Wow. We can see the Marina towers over there!" Rogue smiled at one of her favorite landmarks. She then noticed that Bobby, Theoren and Emily were already seated at one of the center tables,

Bobby waved at them near a bunch of girls. " Hey guys. I moved our reservation to this table. These girls felt so bad that you have no wedding guests, so I've invited them to join our party." Bobby winked at Rogue and Remy.

The Bride and Groom shrugged at each other. They were both pretty friendly people, so meeting random new people was always fun. They walked over to everybody.

Rogue adored the table setting. It was very long. A long glass case served as the runner on the table. It was full of water and raised candles that illuminated brightly.

"Remy, this place is so romantic." She whispered to him. He kissed her hand and pulled out a chair for her.

Emily began snapping more photos of the scene.

"Wow, are you the bride?" One the girls asked

"You looks so pretty!" Another one said.

"Thank you." Rogue smiled at them , and then at Bobby, who was beaming at the success of getting four pretty girls to agree to hang out with him for the night.

Within a few moments, Remy had ordered champagne and a round of shots for everybody.

Rogue raised her glass , " Ah'd like to dedicate this toast to mah wonderful husband, his Best Man, mah Man of Honor , our talented photographer, and to these pretty young gals who have randomly decided to hang out with  
us !"

Everybody cheered and laughed before drinking.

Theoren and Bobby nodded at each other.

"Ok, we'll need to pick up our shots now." Bobby beckoned to everybody. He then flagged the waitress down. "We'll need another round of these right away."

"Pace yourself, there." Rogue laughed at him, " You have plenty of time to lose your shoes."

Bobby pushed Rogue's shoulder playfully. " I don't always loose my shoes when I drink!"

All the girls giggled at him.

"Uh huh. " Rogue leaned into the girls. "All Ah know is that his shoes are a measure of how drunk he is…the drunker he is …the more likely his shoes are gone… He used to lose his shoes at parties he threw in his own apartment back in L.A. all the time…"

All the girls busted out laughing.

"Well, that's half true." Bobby laughed, " I always found them later. Because I was afraid I'd lose them, I'd hide them from myself…. and then I'd forget where I put them….anyway, as the Man of Honor and Best Man, we each decided to do our speeches for you guys." He nodded at Theoren.

Theoren looked over at his cousin and raised his shot glass of whiskey. " So, Bobby an' I both agreed to spend about five minutes saying a few nice things about Remy…." Theoren paused and looked at his watch. " That's fine, but what am I supposed to do with the other four minutes and thirty seconds?"

The table erupted in laughter. Remy flashed his cousin a sour look.

"No, seriously…" Theoren continued. " Remy an' I …. an ' all of our cousins , we grew up pretty close. We've always tried to be there for each other. But, Remy, he's really been the best to all of us. None of us have been as generous to him as he has to us…..When I saw how Anna looked at you….the way she would stand up for you to your own family…hell, the fact that she still wanted to marry you after meeting our crazy clan… I knew she was special. Anna, I'm really excited about having a strong woman like you join our family…an' Remy, you deserve all the happiness she will bring you." He lifted his shot glass higher. "A Votre Sante!*" (* To your Health)

Everybody chugged their shots. Theoren gave both Rogue and Remy hugs.

Bobby thanked the waitress as she brought over another round of shots. He stood up and looked over the Bride and Groom. " Rogue - I mean Anna , " Remy was the only X-man who knew Rogue's real name. So, when Bobby learned it a few weeks ago, he still found it hard to get used to. " …. When Anna told me she found the greatest guy, I asked her 'Who is it this week?' "

The whole table laughed while Rogue rolled her eyes at Bobby.

"By the way, " Bobby started imitating Rogue's southern accent. " Do y'all know what a Mississippi gal does when she wakes up in the mornin'?"

Rogue covered her face, afraid of his joke's punch line.

"She walks home." Bobby giggled and all the girls joined in on his laughter.

"Very funny, Bobby. " Rogue and Remy shook their heads at him. Rogue shot him with a come-back, "That's comin' from a man who has a very noble purpose in life. It's to serve as a warnin' to others."

More laughter erupted from everybody. Even Bobby couldn't help but smirk at Rogue's quick wit.

"Anyway, Anna has had some crazy guys in her past. So, I wanted to make sure this new 'Remy guy' she was seeing was well adjusted. I was happy when I realized that he didn't suffer from any split personalities. I mean, if he did, why would he just use this one?"

Everybody laughed while Remy chuckled a bit. He found that everybody should be able to laugh at him or herself a bit, However, he threw back a joke at Bobby, " Bobby forgot to mention that he has three split personalities. Their names are Curly, Larry and Moe."

Rogue laughed so hard she almost fell out of her seat.

Bobby laughed at that retaliation, but decided to bring up the heat. " Anyway, I thought Anna had quite a fair share of men in her life…But when I learned about Remy…geez…. I'm not saying he's a man slut, but he can count the women he's had sex with on one hand...if that hand was holding a calculator… I mean STDs aren't like Pokemon, Remy. You're not supposed to catch 'em all!"

The laughter at the table was louder than a freight train.

Remy scowled at Bobby, " Well, at least I got action. When is the last time you touched a breast, Bobby?  
When you picked up some KFC?"

Louder laughter exploded around the table, including from Bobby.

Remy looked around at everybody, " The last threesome this guy was involved in was with his right AND left hand."

Bobby struggled through his laughter, " Ok, Ok, you win….ok., to be serious. I'm so happy for you guys. You're such fun friends to have, and totally meant for each other . You'd better stay together because I'm looking forward to many years of crashing on your couch , and I don't want to have to be a child of divorce where I have to alternate my weekends with you. " He raised his shot glass, " Us Irish, we say, 'Slainte!' "

"Slainte!" The entire table responded and downed their shots.

The night became darker as the entire wedding party enjoyed their dinner and many more beverages. Bobby kept making new friends all around the lounge and had them come over to Rogue and Remy to congratulate them at random. He also pulled Rogue into singing songs to each other on the dance floor.

Rogue sat down for aquick break next her husband, but then jumped out of her seat when she heard the song by Edward Sharpe an the Magnetic Zeroes that Remy and she claimed as their own. Remy stood up with her and invited her to dance with him.

"Alabama, Arkansas, I sure love my Ma and Pa, Not the way that I do love you!" Rogue sang into his ear.

" Holey Moley, Me oh my, you're the apple of my eye, Girl I never loved one like you! " He sang back into her ear.

The Bride and Groom lost themselves in singing the rest of the song to each other. The night air was so warm. The city around them was stunning. Their friends laughed in the background. Everything in the moment they were having on the rooftop with each other was perfect.

"Remy…" Rogue said to him once the song was over.

"Yes, my cherie?" He asked, looking into her eyes.

"We could not have planned a better wedding day if we tried. Everything was so much fun and so beautiful." She sighed. "I love you."

"I love you too…but the night is not done…" Remy gave her a very sexy look.

"Now, what could you be implyin'…? " Rogue asked coyly.

Remy leaned into her, " Oh, you have no idea all the things left on Le Diable Blanc's list of what to do to you."

Rogue felt herself get hot at Remy's intense stare. "Ok…we can um…leave…." She looked around and noticed that the lounge was dying down. It was a lot later than she realized.

"Ok, I'm going to go pay the tab." Remy kissed her hand.

Bobby bumped into Rogue on the dance floor while shouting at the two girls who still remained from earlier.  
"Hey ladies! This is my song!…I'm bringin' sexy back! Them other boys don't know how to act!" He pulled his suit jacket off as the girls joined him in dancing. "Dirty Babe..You see these shackles. Baby I' m your slave…" The girls laughed at him as he threw his suit jacket over the roof.

Rogue shook her head at the mistake he just made. She walked over to Remy who was looking at the tab for the night. Bobby noticed from afar what was happening and ran over.

" I was kidding around about you owing me drinks, Ace. I'll pay for my own and for all those girls I invited over." Bobby grabbed the check out of Remy's hands.

"No, I got it." Remy took the check back from him

"C'mon , Remy, we can't expect you to pay the whole tab." Theoren chimed in as he walked over. "We had a lot to drink."

"No, it's on me." Remy shook his head.

"Let me at least pay for my food at least." Bobby pulled his credit card out.

"It's no use, boys. " Rogue put her arms around Remy. " My husband is too generous."

Remy smiled at her. "My wife is right. It's no use. Put your wallets away, boys. This night's on me." He flagged down the waitress . " You can put the total on the credit card. The cash is for you. Thanks for putting up with us."

"You are impossible! " Bobby yelled as he ran backwards over to the girls.

As they waited for the tab to be paid, Theoren said his good bye to the Bride and Groom. A few of the lounge's patrons and staff also came over to congratulate them one last time. Rogue wasn't used to such attention, but she welcomed it.

"Should we check on Bobby and see how he is gettin' home?" Rogue asked Remy as he signed his credit card slip.

Bobby walked right past the two of them just after Rogue said that to Remy. He had his arm around the last remaining girl from the group. She giggled as he sang in the tune of Lady' Gaga's "Pokerface " song.  
"No, I can' find, I can't find, I can't find, my shoes. My sh- sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh shoes….no I can't find my sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shoes…." He flashed Rogue and Remy a thumbs up sign, "Later, pals. We're gonna go look for the pool. That was a super fun wedding. Now, go fuck already."

Remy laughed really hard at how sloppy Bobby looked in his socks.

"Good for him." Rogue grabbed Remy's hand, " He really needs some attention from women who are NOT Lorna. The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else…..It'll be good for his ego."

"I know what would be good for my ego right now…" Remy whispered into Rogue's ear as they headed towards the elevator.

Rogue responded with a kiss. As they entered the elevator, she gave him more kisses.

The door opened on their floor and Remy lifted Rogue up in his arms. She giggled as he carried her into their hotel suite.

Rogue smiled at the site of the gorgeous room.

Ceiling to floor windows continued to boast the view of downtown Chicago, just as the lounge had upstairs. The lights on all the skyscrapers and the dozens of candles spread around the room were the only source of lighting in the room.

All the table tops displayed bouquets of exotic flowers. Billie Holiday played softly in the background.  
All the furniture , curtains, and walls followed a dark red, gold, and black theme.

"Remy, this must have cost a fortune…. how were you able to book this so last minute?" Rogue asked.

"Exactly… this room is so expensive that it doesn't get booked often…" Remy smiled.

As he gently placed her down on the bed, Rogue realized that it was covered in playing cards. She smiled when she noticed they were all of the Queen of Hearts.

A sudden rush of nervousness took over her body as she looked up at Remy hovering over her. She had been intimate with him for a long time now, and was surprised at her nervousness. She then realized the excitement of them making love for the first time as husband and wife was sending chills through her body. Remy was the best lover she ever had, and she could tell by his deep stare, that he had something extra in store for her tonight. The thought was literally taking her breath away.

"My Anna….my Cherie," He kissed her neck and then put his hand over her chest, " Your heart is racing."

She let out a few short breaths and got on her knees so she could face him closer as he stood next to the bed.

"Anna, are you ok, ma chere?" Remy was concerned with her anxious expression .

"Yeah, Sugah…. just got some nerves takin' over me…"

"Nerves? " He trailed kisses all over her shoulder, " There's no reason to be nervous, my Moitie"

"Ah'm just so….." Rogue tried to find her words while reacting to how good his tongue felt on her skin. "Ah'm just so excited about how special this is going to feel tonight …I mean it's our wedding night….."

Remy smiled at her. She looked so beautiful in her anxiety, "You're right , ma chere." He lifted her chin and kissed her lips softly, " Tonight is very special. Now, relax, my Chere, and enjoy the first night I make love to you as your husband."

His words sent a hot chill through Rogue. He gave her another deep kiss and ran his hands all over curves.

Rogue tugged at the sleeves of his suit coat and he got the hint to take it off. He quickly undid his tie while Rogue unbuttoned his shirt. She ran her hands all over his chest.

"You always look delicious when you're in a suit, Mr. LeBeau." She said seductively.

Remy pulled off the rest of his shirt and grinned at Rogue. The nervous woman from a few moments ago was now replaced by a ravenous one. She was busy sliding her tongue up the center of his chest while struggling with the zipper on his fly.

He sat down on the bed next to her and pulled her onto his lap. He pulled her body so close to himself she couldn't escape from his lips. He made her moan as he kissed that spot at the base of her neck she loved.

He thought back to the first time he discovered that spot on her body…He thought back to how he was the first one to discover a lot of spots on her body that nobody else had. She was so special to him, and so was this night.

Remy's fingers slowly worked on the zipper at the back of her dress. He pulled her dress down past her shoulders.  
"I don't know how I kept my hands off these all night. They looked so perfect." He passionately kissed her cleavage. " Do you know why these are my favorite part of your body?" He flashed her his famous mischievous grin as he unhooked the front of her bustier. " It's because of how you react when I do this…" He ran his tongue across one of her breasts and his hand on the other. His other hand traveled downwards towards her thighs. His fingers slid underneath her panties and onto her spot.

Rogue started moaning. "I love you so much, Remy…"

" I love you too, Anna. " He looked up into her eyes while still touching her. He let her enjoy the moment until her body trembled from her first orgasm of the night. She wrapped her arms around him and he held her tight.

"Oh Remy…" She buried her face his shoulder, "You know how to drive a girl crazy…" She shifted herself onto her knees and Remy's hands quickly helped her slide the rest of her dress off. He made her pause before she slid off her thong so he could admire how she looked in them. He squeezed the bottom on her butt cheek playfully.

Rogue giggled and finally slid her thong off. She started undoing her floral and veil headpiece.

"No, please leave those in." Remy kissed her forehead. "You look so beautiful with your hair like that."

Rogue flashed him a big smile. She was pleased that he liked her last-minute hairpiece idea.

"Why don't you open that gift over there?" He motioned towards a small bag on the nightstand. He started taking off his pants and underwear.

"Remy…you didn't have to get me anything." She shook her head.

"Yes, I did." Remy flashed her a devilish grin while taking her foot in his hands.

Rogue's eyes lit up at her gift. She looked at her Cajun who was unfastening the buckles on her high heel shoes.

After running a long trail of kisses from her feet, up her legs, abdomen, and breasts, and neck, he flashed her another devilish grin. He leaned into her ear. "Why don't you use that gift on yourself while I make love to you?"

Rogue's heart started racing when she realized he was placing the both of them into her favorite position…the position where she was at her tightest and he could penetrate her the deepest. He rolled her over onto her stomach and pushed her legs close together. He lowered himself on top of her and helped her place her new vibrator onto her spot. He began entering her slowly. She let out a long moan, which turned into screams into the pillow as his rhythm increased. The pleasure was so intense she was biting holes into the pillow.

Her walls tightened around Remy with each orgasm. He had to slow his rhythm down so he could last longer. She felt so incredibly tight and perfect. He bit her shoulder to keep himself from exploding. However, when she begged him to go faster, he reached his edge in a few moments.

He rolled her over onto her side so he could look at her face. She could barely speak and looked like she was lost in some other world.

"Remy….. You felt so good inside me." She managed to say. She pulled him in close to her body and kissed him passionately.

Remy kissed her forehead, "Yes, my Anna. You felt so wonderful…." He then laughed mischievously, " But, I'm not quite done with you for the night, Mrs. LeBeau."

Always a man of his word, Remy did indeed mean what he said. He brought the both of them over the edge a few more times in various positions before finally letting his new wife fall asleep in his arms.

When Rogue woke up the next morning, the sensation of pleasure was still running through her body. As she opened her eyes, she saw that the reason for this was Remy . He was already awake and his mouth was busy in between her legs. She dug her nails into the sheets so hard that she ripped them. She grabbed one of the only pillows she hadn't destroyed last night and screamed until she climaxed.

Remy looked up at her and paused his busy mouth ."Just wanted to give a proper 'good mornin' for the first time you woke up as my wife."

Rogue managed to somehow speak in her raspy voice. "mmmmmm…..A gal could get used to bein' woken up like that for the rest of her life…. ."

" Anythin' my Queen of Hearts wants…..I'll do that to her every mornin' for the rest of her life if she wants me to," Remy kissed her all over stomach.

"Remy, um…" Rogue breathed out heavily as his lips reached her breasts. .."Before we go at it again….can we get some room service?"

"Did my Reine* (*Queen) work up an appetite?" He asked as his lips moved onto her neck.

"Well..sorta…" She responded in a low voice, " Ah was actually hopin' you could order me some tea…? Ah don't think Ah have much of a voice left for the rest of our day."


	18. Chapter 18

Friday's mid-afternoon sun crept it rays through the blinds of the Ohio restaurant. Two old flames sat across from each other.

"You just need to accept it, Robert. You need to accept that this is a part of my work. I don't need your approval on my decision to board next Friday. " Lorna shook her head as she put her fork down on her plate.

The waitress smiled as she approached them, " Would you two care for some dessert?"

"No. We are about done here." Lorna smiled at the waitress. "Separate checks, please."

"No , the same check. But not yet. " Bobby disagreed and smiled bigger at the waitress. " We would love dessert. Your French Silk pie, please."

"Robert." Lorna let out an angry breath .

Bobby ignored her annoyed tone, " Lorna, you should get the Banana Crème…ooooh no, get the Lemon Meringue."

"Fine…." Lorna shook her head and then leaned into Bobby after the waitress walked away, " I know what you are doing."

"What am I doing?" Bobby asked innocently as he continued to look through the pie menu.

"You are trying to stall me. "

" What I was doing… was what any red-blooded American does when he or she goes to Baker's Square. I order their French Silk Pie. " He then looked up at Lorna with a very serious look. " Do you know why I didn't suggest Denny's, Applebees, TGI Fridays, or even IHOP? Because they are inferior when it comes to chain restaurants . They do not put enough focus on their pies. Plus, we don't have B-Squares in NYC. … " He looked back at the pie menu, " Mmmmm….this one is made out of oreos…"

"Robert…." Lorna sighed.

"Mmmmm. I wonder if it is too late to add this pecan one to my order…"

" Robert!" Lorna snapped her fingers in front of him. "Please top talking about pie. I have to leave soon…"

"How come you don't call me Bobby anymore?" Bobby finally looked up from the pie menu.

Lorna felt a knot in her stomach as she observed the sad look on his face. She quickly looked away , "I don't know…I didn't even realize…that….Listen, I can't stay …. This lunch lasted a lot longer than I planned and…they're going to wonder where I am…"

" Are 'they' ?" Bobby put the menu down and stared right into Lorna's face. "By 'they' do you mean 'him'?"

Lorna nodded slowly without looking at Bobby.

"Interesting." Bobby continued to stare at her. " You didn't tell… Havok… that you were meeting me?" After a long silence, Bobby let out laugh, " Wow….he must be a lot more threatened by me than I thought…"

"Drop it, Bobby." Lorna finally looked at Bobby.

They shared an uncomfortable gaze before Bobby spoke, " Listen, Lorna. I know…I know that…" He paused as he collected his thoughts. He had always had a hard time understanding how to deal with his emotions. It's why he used humor so much. It masked his feelings. However, there was something about Lorna that made it hard to hide. He wanted to be open. " Lorna, I know that you've made your decision…I can't change your mind about us….I know you've moved on with …Havok….I didn't want to bring that up….I really came here to ask you to just reconsider boarding Asteroid M….."

"I'm going, Bobby." Lorna responded softly. "I think that's it's you- You are the one who should reconsider. You should give it a chance and come too."

"Lorna, it's not a place you can just test out and come back if you don't like it…." Bobby shook his head,"Once you, go, you're gone… I'm not going….so that means I won't ever see you again. I guess that's why I invited you to lunch…I was hoping I could change your mind….but I guess this is good bye."

"Bobby." Lorna's voice cracked. She paused as she fought back emotions, "It doesn't have to be. …." She grabbed Bobby's hands and put them in between hers.

Bobby smiled at her affection. Her hands felt so warm around his. He was so happy to feel her, yet so confused about her signals. This was the first time she had shown him any sort of emotion since she dumped him.

"Bobby….I'm sorry that I haven't been…..well I haven't been very nice to you….I still care about you." Lorna started rubbing his fingers. "…. Have you been seeing anybody since we - since we broke up?"

"Not really… I met this girl two nights ago at Remy and Rogue's wedding."

"They got married?" Lorna smiled.

"Yeah, does that finally put your thoughts to rest about Rogue and me being 'just friends' ?" Bobby raised her eyebrow at her.

Lorna let out a guilty laugh, "Rogue makes it very easy to be jealous of her when she's hanging out with your boyfriend. …"

The waitress arrived with their pie slices .

"The wedding was awesome. I was Rogue's Man of Honor."

"You were her Man of Honor?" Lorna laughed. " Does that woman still NOT have ANY female friends?"  
Bobby frowned at her before tasting his pie. "She doesn't have any female friends because all the females are always jealous of her."

Lorna shook her head at him, " Ok, so this girl you met…is she nice to you…?"

"Oh, she was very nice.…" Bobby tried acting mysterious while eating his dessert. He wasn't trying to make Lorna jealous, but he couldn't help from being intrigued by her curiosity.

"What does she do?"

"I have no idea."

"Is she from Chicago?"

" I don't know. I think so."

"What is her name?"

"Mallory."

"What about her last name?"

"No idea."

" When are you seeing her again?" Lorna stared into Bobby's face with intensity.

Bobby put his spoon down . "I'm not. We're history. "

"Already? What happenend?"

"She was very nice…we had a…um 'very nice night' together that night..…but then she shoved me out the door in the morning…She didn't want her boyfriend, who she forgot to mention, to know about me…." Bobby started laughing, " That's a pattern in my life isn't it? There's always a boyfriend…."

Lorna looked sadly at him as he continued laughing.

"You deserve somebody really nice…" Lorna leaned into him.

"Please don't say that…:" Bobby responded in annoyed voice, "That's like the ultimate cliché right there. When your ex tells you that you deserve somebody better."

Silence fell over them for a few moments as they stared at each other.

Bobby 's nerves rose inside him. He had one urge to leave the situation immediately. The other urge was to lean over the table and to win Lorna back with a fantastic kiss. He grabbed their check instead and pulled out his wallet.

"No, Bobby, it's my treat." Lorna tried to grab the check back from him.

"Now, it's my treat….for our last good bye." Bobby grabbed the check back and laid his cash out. He stood up uncomfortably.

"It doesn't have to be. You can still come with." Lorna stood up to face him. She rubbed her hand on Bobby's bicep.

Bobby shook his head, " Lorna, I'm sorry, but I can't go. I don't trust Magneto. He's a madman."

"Watch what you're saying about him!" Lorna retracted her hand back angrily.

"What? It's true he's freakin' crazy. I wouldn't trust him for a minute. It infuriates me that he hasn't been locked away by now ." Bobby flashed her a confused look.

"Watch what you're saying about my father!" Lorna exclaimed.

Bobby's jaw dropped.

"You didn't you figure it out by now?" Lorna started leaving the restaurant.

"He's your- ? " Bobby was still shocked as he quickly followed her outside

"Yes! I can't believe you couldn't put two and two together, Bobby!" Lorna continued walking fast towards her car. "Our powers are very similar….Come on, Bobby, you are the one who dug up my whole family history and got me to start looking around…"

"Wait, what? Are you still blaming me…?" Bobby stopped Lorna from opening her car door. " You already suspected that you were adopted…and YOU asked ME to help you find out!"

"He's helped me gain control of my powers, Bobby, he's a good man. My father is a good man." Lorna stared into Bobby's face.

Bobby frowned back at her, " Are you saying that to me as a statement? Or are you saying that so you can try to make yourself believe it?"

Lorna slapped him across the face.

"Bobby…" Lorna gasped with guilt, "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…"

Bobby touched his cheek in shock, "No, Lorna, I was out of line. I shouldn't have said that….." However, Bobby secretly knew his remark was true.

Lorna leaned into him and rubbed his cheek, "I'm so sorry, Bobby. ..I'm so sorry."

Bobby leveled himself against her car and looked into her face. Everything about her today was so confusing to him. He had her laughing during lunch . He had her sad during dessert…he had her mad just a moment ago. It was just like the last few months of their relationship. He loved her so much, but he knew he couldn't handle her instability. He knew in his heart that he should move on with somebody who much sweeter to him.

She leaned into him and kissed him. Bobby's heart raced as tasted her. He pulled her into another kiss and could feel her heart pounding.

She abruptly pulled away from him and opened her car door. "Good-bye, Bobby." She gave him one more kiss before getting in and driving off.

As Bobby watched her drive off, he knew he deserved better…. but he still loved her. She had broken his heart before by dumping him. However, giving him this last taste of her amazing lips tore him into even more pieces.

* * *

Friday night had finally come. It was a perfect night.

Remy smiled at how great the air felt as he waited for Rogue on their front porch. The front door opened.

"I've outdone myself." Juan bragged as he stepped out. Rogue had loved the make up he did for her on her wedding day. So, she had hired him to come back tonight for a house call.

"Thank you so much, " Remy shook his hand.

"No, she already tipped me." Juan smiled as he noticed that Remy was pulling out cash from his pocket.

"No, no, I insist. " Remy nodded and handed him a lump of change.

"Thank you," Juan gushed as he descended their stairs. He then sent Remy a flirty look," I see why she was in such a hurry to marry you."

Remy laughed to himself.

He then tried to imagine what Rogue was going to look like when she came out. He couldn't believe that she could top how she looked on their wedding day just two days earlier. He then recalled Rogue's words on Thursday morning after he had told her about an event for them to go to as an alibi for tonight.

She smiled deviously at him, "Ah'm gonna need one hell of a dress if Ah want to land us on another society page."

The front door finally opened. Remy' s jaw dropped so dramatically at the site of Rogue, that his cigarette fell out of his mouth. He quickly tried to recover it before it burned holes all over his suit.

His new wife let out a low laugh as he continued to gawk at her.

Remy couldn't take his eyes off of her. The floor-length red dress looked like liquid on her as it draped over her body.

It had an off-the shoulder neckline . Two cut-outs on the side of her dress boasted her beautiful waist and hips. They were so low that they exposed the line of her panties. So, she wore a pair with beaded straps on purpose. The beads matched the ones in her chandelier earrings and on her bracelets.

"The women at this event dress pretty risqué. I have to compete." She winked at her speechless husband.

Remy ran his fingers on her thigh that peaked out an extremely high slit.

"This dress is goin' to let the world know exactly where we were tonight." She smiled at him.

Remy kissed his wife's hand and kept repeating how beautiful she looked as he led her down to the limo. He opened the door for her.

"Hello William. Nice to see you again." Rogue smiled over at their driver.

The driver smiled back and Remy nodded at him to start driving.

Remy then pulled out a bottle of champagne and quickly poured it into two glasses.

'Here's to the success of the mission." He smiled at Rogue.

"To the success of the mission." Rogue repeated. They clinked glasses.

After they sipped their toast, Remy shut the window in between their driver and them. He immediately became busy running his hands all over Rogue. He kissed her intensely.

"Remy, you're going to ruin mah make-up before we get there. " Rogue giggled.

"It's ok." Remy pulled away from her and got on his knees, "I don't have to mess up your makeup…I'll kiss you everywhere… else." He began trailing his lips all over her legs.

Rogue continued to giggle as Remy tried to get enough play time with her body as he could before they reached the event on Chicago's Northwest Side.

About twenty five minutes later, Rogue struggled to get her breath back. She pulled out her compact and re-applied her lipstick. Remy smiled at her as he fixed his tie.

"You're crazy, Cajun." She shook her head.

"You're crazier for marryin' me." He kissed her on the forehead.

The limo pulled up a block before its destination of the renovated Portage Theatre. William opened the door for them. He put an arm out for Rogue and helped her step out. Remy stepped out from behind her.

They were attacked with camera flashes.

"Ah had no idea that this was goin' to be so big." Rogue whispered to Remy.

"Yeah, this is pretty big." He put his arm around her waist as he looked around. "I fell like we're kinda at the Oscars, no?"

Rogue nodded as she took in the scenery.

It was the first time the International Mutant Film Festival came to the United States. The traffic on Milwaukee Avenue was backed up for blocks. Reporters buzzed around all over. A red carpet across the sidewalk and down towards the theatre. Unfortunately, anti-mutant activists screamed from the other side of the street. Police yelled threats for them to keep calm.

"Remy, how did you get tickets to this again?" Rogue whispered into his ear as they started approaching the theatre.

"I know a guy." He shrugged as Rogue smiled at him. "He's one of the projectionists at this theater…"

"Hey look- who it is!" Rogue beckoned Remy to look over to his left at Scarlet Witch. She took notice of them, nodded, and then quickly looked away.

Rogue squeezed Remy's hand. "You don't think her father….Old Mags is here, do you?"

Remy looked around in the crowd. He recognized a few other mutants in the crowd, but saw no sign of Magneto. "No, chere, it's 8:00pm. You gotta remember that Magsy is older and it's past his bed time."

Rogue laughed very hard as they continued to walk towards the theatre.

A French reporter asked them to share their thoughts about the event. Rogue admired her husband as he spoke fluidly. He then encouraged her to stop being so shy about her skills in the language. She swallowed her pride and braved a few sentences in French as well.

'Ah can't believe Ah just did that!" She laughed at him as they walked away.

"I told you! Your French is great." He squeezed his arm around her. When they got closer to the entrance of the theater, he stopped her in her tracks, "Anna, ma Chere. Ma Moitie…. Would you like to do the honors?"

"What are you talkin' bout?" Rogue whispered to him.

" Anna, I love you. " Remy kissed the side of her temple and whispered in her ear softly, " I brought it with so you could do it…. And you could get your revenge."

Rogue raised her eyebrow at him and then smiled slowly. "I thought Theoren had it….you brought it…?"

He looked deeply into her eyes and nodded.

A woman yelled out to Rogue, "Excuse me, ma'am! That dress is stunning! Can I get a photo of the two of you?"

He quickly whispered in her ear as camera flashes went off all around them. "The detonator, Anna. It's in my left pocket. Just push the button on top."

"Please, a picture over here too!" Another man yelled at them.

Rogue let out a nervous breath. She observed her husband. He looked so cool and collected as the cameras flashed at them. Nobody here would ever suspect him of what they were involved in.

"Over here too!" A woman yelled. "Picture here!"

"I love you , Remy." She whispered into his ear. She then turned to the crowd. "Y'all want a fun one?"

The crowd cheered her on. With one hand, she playfully tugged on Remy's tie and pulled him into a kiss. Her other hand traveled inside his left breast pocket. She took a short breath before her finger pressed the button.

Nobody in the crowd heard or saw anything out of the ordinary.

But, somewhere far away, a huge explosion went off.

Far away in space, a shuttle carrying supplies, had landed on its destination.

With the simple push of her finger, Rogue had triggered the explosives that were tucked neatly inside their metal spy.

Remy smiled at his wife and held her hand as they entered the theater.

It was a perfect Friday night, and she looked perfect.

Asteroid M was destroyed.


	19. Chapter 19

Lorna woke up to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She slowly opened one eye and glanced at the clock. It read 1:30 a.m. She closed her eye when she heard her cell stop ringing. She let out a sigh of relief and snuggled up to her lover.

Her cell phone began ringing again a few seconds later.

She shook her head and snuggled herself even closer into her lover.

"Alex, honey…can you see who that is?" She mumbled.

She was responded with a mumble that made no sense. Luckily, her phone stopped ringing.

She smiled to herself.

The sound of her text message notifications disrupted her sleep again. They were going off in a series.

"For the love of …! " Lorna shot up in bed, "Who is bugging me at this hour?"

She looked around the room and struggled to make sense of where she was. This wasn't her bedroom. Her cell phone was making its noise from somewhere across the room. It was very dark for her to see its exact location. She turned to her right and noticed how a small ray of moonlight was peaking through the blinds. Its light let her see a lamp on a nightstand. She reached for it and turned it on.

As her memories of her night sunk in, a small pang of panic settled over her. She swallowed hard and felt the aftertaste of vodka shots she had taken earlier.

A set of warm lips began trailing kisses up her naked back. Only one man she knew had a habit of kissing her spine like that …..and it definitely was not Alex.

She turned around to face him and exclaimed. "Bobby! Wh- What happened?" She pulled away from him and jumped out of bed. Bobby's look of desire at the sight of her naked body made her start searching for her clothes. They were scattered all over the room.

Bobby let out a laugh and got out of bed, " I don't know. You tell me."

Lorna looked nervously as the half empty bottle of vodka that was sitting next to a few empty bottles of beer.  
"This …this was a mistake…."

"Was it?" Bobby stood behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and unhooked the bra she had just put on. She didn't resist his hands as they ran over her chest.

"B-Bobby," She sighed just before he leaned into a kiss. She leaned back and enjoyed the taste of his lips. She then pushed him away and fastened her bra back on. She stepped back and searched for her underwear. "Bobby….I'm sorry. I have to get out of here."

"You can't leave without these can you?" He shot her a flirtatious smile as he held up her panties that he had just found near his side of the bed.

Lorna grabbed them out of his hands and threw them on as quickly as she could. She found her cell phone and dreaded how many of those phone calls must have been from Alex.

Bobby folded his arms across his chest as he watched her look at her phone. " What are you going to tell him?"

Lorna ignored Bobby and looked down at her phone. She was relieved when she read the first text from Alex at about 10pm.

"Hey honey. Can't meet you tonight. Some sort of emergency over at the Space Station. Will call you later."

The second one was a mass text he had just sent to her and the rest of the X-Factor team members.

"Hey Team. Assemble at the space station in the next 15minutes. Emergency ."

All of the missed calls were from her father.

"Lorna?" Bobby repeated his question. " What are you going to tell him?"

Lorna only gave Bobby a blank stare before she put her pants on. "Bobby, I have an X-Factor emergency to tend to."

"Are you going to tell him that you are still in love with me?" Bobby walked over to her.

"Bobby, please put some clothes on." She breathed out.

"Why? Looking at me makes you want to stay, doesn't it?" Bobby rubbed her shoulders.

Lorna breathed out heavily. She couldn't lie to herself about how sexually attracted she still was to him. She leaned into another kiss, but then quickly pulled away. "No..I can't."

She grabbed her blouse and started buttoning it. Just as finished buttoning the top two buttons, Bobby had unbuttoned the bottom few buttons. He kissed her stomach and she let out a moan before pushing him off.

"Stop it, Bobby. …I told you…this was a mistake….I can't ….I love Alex…."

"I don't think you do. I think you're too afraid to admit that you want to be with me. You're convincing yourself that you love him…. But you love me." Bobby watched her as he put her shoes on. He then got nervous as he thought about his next question. " Lorna, were you …..were you telling me the truth ….when you told me you still love me ?"

"Tonight was all your fault." She ignored his question and began looking for her purse.

"My fault?" Bobby raised his eyebrow. "YOU came over to MY hotel room unannounced…You came on to ME."

"How could I not come back over here after our lunch? After you guilt tripped me?" She said as she threw her purse over her shoulder.

"I guilt tripped you?" Bobby raised his voice.

"You were giving me those pathetic 'feel sorry for you' looks at lunch. How could I not come back to check in on you ?"

"I can't believe you are blaming me."

"Then you got me drunk."

"I got you drunk?" Bobby rubbed his forehead, " I offered you one beer. Then you started helping yourself to the mini-bar. I didn't force any drinks down your throat. You were the one daring me to keep up with doing shots with you. "

Lorna's phone started ringing again. She looked down at her father's incoming call. "Bobby I have to go. I'm late."

"You are not blaming me for this, Lorna." Bobby grabbed her arm." I didn't make you agree to have lunch with me.  
I didn't make you come back over here last night. I didn't make you throw yourself at me."

"Let me go!" She shook his grip off her arm.

"I knew it. " Bobby shook his head at her. "I should have left right after you drove off in your car…I don't know why I came back to my hotel room….I should have gone right back to Chicago…"

"Good-Bye, Robert." Lorna bolted towards the door.

"No, wait, Lorna, don't go…." Bobby pleaded. "We're both confused….and need to clam down. Let's just talk it out…please."

" Robert. I'm not confused about anything." Lorna opened the door and stepped into the hallway. I don't need to talk about anything. This was our good-bye. I don't want to see you again."

With that, she slammed the door, while Bobby slammed his fist into the wall.

* * *

"I WANT TO KNOW WHO DID THIS NOW!" Magneto screamed at his staff. "NOW!"

"Father, please calm down, " Scarlet Witch whispered and put her hand on his shoulder. " You are scaring everybody."

"GOOD!" He shoved his daughter's hand away. "EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM SHOULD BE SCARED! YOU ARE ALL INCOMPETENT!" He took a deep breath. "It has been over two weeks since MY ASTEROID was mysteriously destroyed. Two weeks, and NONE OF YOU can find me at least ONE clue! I WANT TO KNOW WHO DID IT!"

Mr. Westscott, who Magneto had appointed to head the investigation, spoke up, " Mr. Lensherr, sir, we are working as hard as we can. Even the detectives on the case are baffled."

" BAFFLED?" Magneto leaned into him. " They should not be baffled. They should have a list of suspects for me!"

Everybody in the room jumped back on their seats in fear as they watched Magneto grab Mr. Westscott by his throat and start strangling him.

"I AM SICK OF THIS LACK OF ANSWERS! I WANT SOMeBODY TO GIVE ME A NAME!"

"Father!" Scarlet Witch ran up to him. "Stop it! You're killing him!"

Magneto ignored her and tightened his grip around the man's neck. His face was turning blue. "SOMEBODY GIVE ME A NAME OR THIS MAN DIES!"

"It must have been Friends of Humanity!" Grace Woodruff, one of Magneto's aides, suggested out of panic. " They are probably the ones who stole your De-Ager."

Magneto released his grip and Mr. Westscott fell to the floor.

"What is your proof?" Magneto leaned into her.

"I -uh- don't exactly have any.." She stammered.

"You women are all the same." Magneto laughed in her face. " You act with your emotions and not your reason. You should have stifled your fear and let me kill him. Now, I will have to kill you."

The door swung open and Quicksilver walked in. "Father, I've arranged that Skype chat you wanted. Everybody is online and ready."

Magneto took a deep breath and looked around at the room full of frightened people before he exited with Scarlet Witch.

"I've pulled together all of the targets that our 'missing equipment' was programmed to attack . " Quicksilver spoke as they walked down the hallway. "I think there has to be a connection."

"Any proof of who attacked the sentinel?" Magneto lowered his voice so nobody could hear.

"No, none. I still can't find any satellite photos or any traces of what that woke it up that night. Thought, I have a feeling that our list of Iceman, Gambit, Xavier, and Wolverine as possible suspects is probable."

"You've assembled all of them?"

"All, but Wolverine. Nobody can find him…..Destiny of course was a target too…but we know it could not have been her."

Magneto let out a laugh before entering the next conference room. Havok and the X-Factor were already assembled.  
Large monitors were turned on with all of the people he couldn't wait to interrogate.

" Good Afternoon everybody. " Magneto began pacing the room. "You all know the news by now, I'm sure. It's all over the news. You are all here today because I have some questions for you."

He peered over at all faces on the monitors. He was immediately irritated by the smirk on Remy LeBeau's face. There was no way he believed that Gambit could have been clever enough to pull off anything like this…but he wouldn't put it past him to know something about it.

Magneto stopped right in front of his screen. "Where were you on Friday, September 5th? "

Remy let out a smirk. "You really think I had somethin' to do with this?"

"Answer my father's question." Quicksilver angrily chimed in. He found the smirk on Gambit's face just as annoying as it was to his father.

"Where were you?" Magneto repeated his question.

" I was here in Chicago. As a matter of fact, I was at the International Mutant Film Festival." Remy quickly paused to look directly at Magneto with an even deeper smirk, "… with my wife."

"YOUR WIFE?" Magneto pounded his fist onto the table.

"Yes. My wife. As a matter of fact, MY WIFE looked so beautiful in her dress, that our picture landed on a few society pages… Chicago Social Magazine has the best photo…The print copy isn't out yet, but I'd be more than happy to mail you a copy once it's available. What's your address?" Remy grabbed a pad of paper and pen.

Magneto stared at Remy with fury. He shot a death look at Bobby's screen, where he could hear him giggling.

Charles shot Bobby a look of warning before he interrupted Magneto, " Yes, it's true, Eric. I saw it in my feed the other day…." He pulled up the website and sent it to Magneto's main computer screen in the room , "There they are."

Magneto's blood boiled to a dangerous temperature as he looked at the photo. Rogue looked delicious and flawless in her red dress. He almost drooled at the site of her. He then focused on Remy's grip around her. He had his hands on her bare hip. Magneto's anger seeped deeper inside of him. It should have been him with his hands on those beautiful hips. He had no idea how that swamp rat overcame her powers, but he didn't deserve it. Her skin was meant for him to touch only and not for that dirty Louisiana bastard.

"Actually, we saw your daughter there. " He smiled over at Scarlet Witch, who nodded at her father.

"Why didn't you tell me that you saw him?" Magneto shot his daughter such an angry stare that it made her jump back a bit. Magneto then breathed in slowly, trying to calm down. He looked back at Remy and asked in a cool voice. "Where is Rogue?"

"She's here with me." Remy smiled over at her. She was comfortably sipping iced tea and reading a newspaper just outside on the balcony. She was out of the web camera's sight.

" Put her on ." Magneto commanded.

"Why?" Remy continued to challenge him.

"Because I want to talk to her." Magneto's voice was getting impatient.

" You can't make her come on. She will come on if she wants to." Remy responded defiantly.

"PUT HER ON!" Magneto yelled.

Rogue heard the demand and rolled her eyes. "Tell him Ah'm busy."

Remy had noticed how Magneto twitched every time he used the words "my wife." So, he made a mental note to replace Rogue's name with that every time for the rest for the conversation.

"My WIFE doesn't want to talk to you. She's busy right now She's in the middle of reading the arts and entertainment section of the paper." Remy folded his arms across his chest.

"She has no choice. She has to talk to me. This is an interrogation." Magneto spoke slowly as if he were trying to explain something to a small child.

"No, it's not." Remy responded in the same slow tone Magneto had just spoken to him in. "This isn't official. I don't see any detectives or lawyers …. Are we in a courtroom?"

"Tell Rogue to get on right now." Magneto continued to speak in his demeaning tone.

The Professor leaned into Magneto, whose strong emotions had caused him to put down his mental guard. The Professor could read some of his feelings. He could feel his raw anger and…something else….a feeling of being robbed of something that belonged to him. It suddenly made sense to The Professor. Magneto was jealous. "Eric, calm yourself. She was in this photo with Gambit. They were there together that night."

Magneto's voice changed into an even more condescending tone, "Charles, you are not responsible for those two. They are no longer your children. Do not defend them." He looked back at Remy, " Now, Gambit, like I said before, I want to talk to Rogue. Put her on….. NOW!"

Remy let out a laugh. "Like I said before, NO! What business would you have with MY WIFE anyway?"

"My business with your wi-….with ROGUE is that I must question her." Magneto looked back at him sternly, "She is only incriminating herself by not coming on. I knew her very well in the past. If anybody could tell if that child is lying , it would be me."

Remy frowned at Magneto's condescending tone. " Don't call her a child."

" I can call her anything that I find is appropriate. Put her on …. Right now." Magneto spoke slowly.

" No. " Remy folded his arms across his chest. His face sunk immediately when he looked over at Rogue. She had stood up and shaking with anger and disgust. He had never seen her look so infuriated before. Remy took her hand, and squeezed it. Letting Magneto know how much he had affected Rogue's temper would only give him satisfaction. So, he chose his words carefully.

" I don't like the idea of anybody who is as condescendin' as you, talkin' to MY WIFE ." Remy leaned into the screen to look back at Magneto with more intensity. " She deserves respect, an' you're definitely not the type of person who would know how to speak to her with it…..So, listen here, Metal Head. We don't know anythin' 'bout your asteroid blowin' up . I'm speakin' for the both of us, an' that's it. This conversation is over." With that, Remy logged out of the chat, disconnected the web camera.

Rogue sat down in his lap as he shut the computer down. "Oh, Sugah, Ah'm sorry for havin' gotten so on edge. …It's just that his tone pissed me off. It's like he was barkin' orders at you 'bout me. …like Ah was his personal property…"

"Don't worry 'bout it., ma cherie" Remy rubbed her back. "He's a sexist asshole. Don't let him get to you."

"You're right." Rogue smiled at Remy, "I wonder how Bobby is holding up with his interrogation."

"Let's see." Remy nodded. They both left the office and descended the stairs. They slowly walked into the den and stayed quiet while Bobby spoke into his laptop. He was already in the middle of poking fun at Magneto.

"Sorry, Magsy. This is just the worst episode of Matlock I have ever seen."

"ICEMAN!" Magneto yelled back at him.

"I'm sorry, you're right,., This can't be the worst episode I've seen because I've never actually watched that show. I was too young for it. But my great grandpa said you were awesome in it. He always looked up to as his senior."

"ROBERT!" Charles Xavier warned him from his screen.

" ANSWER MY QUESTION!" Magneto almost punched the monitor with Iceman on it.

Quicksilver stepped up to the same monitor. "Mr. Drake, you have been quite vocal about your opposition to boarding Asteroid M. So, I don't think it's wise of you to crack jokes right now."

Bobby took a deep breath and put on a serious face, "I know you're so old that your memory is in black and white, Magsy. But, I didn't think that you'd forget that you sent me up there that Friday. Gosh, your old age must be getting to you… Captain Kirk and I went up there for you because your asteroid was infested with Klingons and we blew them up. Don't you remember?"

"Mr. Drake! You show some respect right now!" Quicksilver shouted.

Magneto breathed out heavily and slowly. "'Magsy'…? Is that your pet name name for me? Listen, you insolent little shit. I want no more jokes." His voice was the deepest and scariest it had been all day. "Where were you, Iceman? Where were you on Friday night, on September 5th ….when my Asteroid was blown up?"

Bobby looked over at Lorna. Havok had his arm around her. She shook her pale face at Bobby. He fantasized about wiping that smirk off of Havok's face by telling the truth about his whereabouts about that night. He wanted to desperately let that jerk know about the passionate sex he had with his girlfriend.

He then looked at the panic setting in on Lorna's face. He didn't want to cover for her. He wanted to get her back for her taking advantage of him….but he couldn't do it.

"I was in Chicago on that Friday night…house sitting for Rogue and Gambit." Bobby lied.

"That's funny." Havok pulled out a file. " I did some research with local transportation to see who was in the area." He pulled out some paperwork and gave Bobby a smug look. "We have evidence here that a Robert L. Drake flew into Ohio at the Akron-Canton Airport on Friday morning….then he flew back to O'Hare on Saturday morning. Care to explain to us why you were in the area?"

Magneto's face lit up and flashed Havok a smile of approval.

Lorna's face was stunned. She shook her head at Havok, who couldn't understand what her expression meant.

"Mr. Drake…." Magneto let out a low laugh. "Isn't this a coincidence? I cannot wait to see you in person….So I can ask you more about this….face to face.." He clenched his fist.

Bobby looked away from his laptop. Rogue and Remy had blank expressions on their face. They had no idea how to advise him. Lorna's voice made Bobby look back at his screen.

"No, it's not what you think." Lorna spoke up.

Magneto frowned at his daughter. " Lorna, you wait for your turn to speak. I am not done yet."

"He didn't blow up your asteroid. He was with me that night!"

"WHAT?" Both Havok and Magneto looked at her.

Lorna stood up in her seat. "I'm sorry, Havok…but Bobby and I …we had a night together….that's why I was late meeting you all that night.."

Havok shot up in his seat and glared at the screen with Bobby's face on it. He shot his energy blast straight at it and shattered the screen into pieces.

As the huge argument erupted between the couple, Magneto put his hand over his heart.

"Father, are you ok?" Scarlet Witch ran over to him. "Are you having a heart attack?"

"No!" Magneto shooed her away and motioned for Quicksilver to follow him out into the hallway.

Magneto was so upset it took him a few minutes to gain control of his breathing. He leaned against the wall. Ever since he couldn't rejuvenate with his de-ager, he started having these attacks. His body had been struggling to keep up physically with stress.

" That little brat insults me in front of everybody and thinks he can get away with it? Then his 'involvement' with my daughter.…MY DAUGHTER….He was the reason she always questioned my actions in the past…This Alex, I like. ..because Summers brothers take orders easily. They don't question anything….That little shit tried to ruin it all….I know he has something to do with my Asteroid….."

"Father, you should sit down." Quicksilver tried to calm his father.

"I'm fine!" Magneto waved his hand . "Pietro, get my private jet ready. You and I…. We're going to Chicago tonight to pay him a visit. That little hellion Drake has angered me for the last time."


	20. Chapter 20

"Are you boys done yet?" Rogue laughed.

"No." Both Bobby and Remy answered in unison.

She walked up behind them and laughed even more. "What's the score?"

"Remy 16, Bobby 14. We're playing best out of 20." Bobby answered as he vigorously moved the joystick. " I'm totally about to close this round out with a knock out. " I knew switching to Chun Li would get me to catch up. Come on, girl. Let's see what you got. "

Rogue couldn't do anything but laugh even more as she watched them.

After that afternoon's interrogation from Magneto, they had all decided to laugh it off and spend the Saturday afternoon having fun. Bobby's natural suggestion was of course, grabbing some beers. After a bar hopping in the Lakeview neighborhood, Rogue had mentioned to the boys about how she had read about a new beercade in that neighborhood . After explaining the "beercade" concept to them, a bar full of free '80s and '90s arcade games and pinball machines, Bobby and Remy insisted they go.

There she was now, at Headquarters, laughing at the two grown men who were acting like they were 13 years old. They had initially ran around the place like kids in a candy store as they rediscovered multiple games from their childhood. However, for the past forty -five minutes, they had been glued to a Street Fighter game. Both had claimed to be champions of the game when they were young.

"Yeah, I'd like to see you try to beat me." Remy challenged Bobby. He then shook his head in frustration as Bobby won the round. "Fuck! I never lose a game."

" I like how I actually have a chance against you in this, unlike Blackjack or Poker." Bobby laughed as he took a quick sip of his beer before their next round. " Ok, Ace has 16, Drake has 15. Let's tie this sucker up, Iceman."

Rogue waved the waitress down and beckoned for another round. Though she wasn't as obsessed with arcade games during her childhood, she was still having fun. "Oooh! Ms. Pacman just opened up! " Rogue looked across the room. "See you boys in a bit."

She lost herself in few rounds before the boys came over.

"We're calling a truce," Bobby said to her. "We're gonna go sit down and plan our next duel."

"Nooo!" Rogue moaned at her screen, where Ms. Pacman was just cornered and eaten by ghosts. "A truce between you two? Did you tie the game?"

Remy smirked , "Ace 20 , Drake 18."

Rogue laughed at the both of them ,"This is why Ah've stopped playin' any games against him….Except for pool. I totally own him in that."

"That's 'cause I let you." Remy teased her as he pulled a chair out for her at a table.

"Is that a challenge?" Rogue threatened. "That's it, we're havin' a tournament tonight."

"As long it's after Ace and I go against each other in a fair game of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You may own Street Fighter, but I totally got the Turtles."

Remy laughed as he sipped his beer."I was always disappointed that I never actually met a mutant that was turtle."

"Me too! Totally." Bobby agreed. " I totally would have left the X-men to join the turtles. They always had so much more pizza lying around than the mansion did. " The text message notification went off on his phone. "Oh Sweet!"

"What?" Rogue asked.

" Do remember ,Carly, who gave me her digits? That receptionist at the salon I met on your wedding day? She just texted me."

"Oh nice. She was cute."

"Yeah, I've been texting her this week. I asked her out, but her work schedule has been busy. But, she just texted saying that her night just freed up!"

"This is good , Bobby. You need to be datin' …' Rogue smiled at him.

"Yeah…I can't be caught up on Lorna any more. I'm over it." Bobby looked up at his friends. " I mean, when I think about her, I still get all these mixed up feelings…It was so hard to watch her and Havok this afternoon during the interrogation…..but it's not healthy. …For her to say all that stuff about loving me me when she was drunk…and then to completely ignore all my phone calls for that last two weeks…that's crappy.…Screw it."

"You just gotta know when to move on." Remy nodded.

"Yeah. I'm going to be a new Bobby." He paused to send a text back to Carly. He waited a moment and smiled as he got a message right back. "Wow. She's actually not too far from our area. She wants to meet up!" He shot up from his seat. "Rogue, be perfectly honest. ….How do I look? Maybe I should grab a cab and go back to the house to change."

"Bobby, you look great. "

"Are you sure? Maybe I should go change into a button down shirt. I feel like a button down shirt always wins over a t-shirt. I look too sporty."

"You look like Bobby. That's good." Rogue smiled at him.

Bobby raised his eyebrow at her, not sure if that was a good thing.

"I'll prove it.." Rogue laughed. She called out to two girls who were at a table next to them. "Hey Ladies, sorry to bug y'all but, my pal here is 'bout to meet up with a new gal an he was wonderin' if he looks ok. What do we think?"

The girls giggled. One of them flashed a thumbs up sign.

The other girl grinned , "Blue is a great color on you. She must be a lucky girl."

Bobby beamed at her.

"See?" Rogue flashed Bobby a grin." I told you so."

Remy put his arm around her. "Ladies are always right."

"Ok, I believe you, but I'm not wearing this. " He tried shoving his New York Rangers baseball cap into his jacket pocket. "She's a Blackhawks fan….and the three things I never talk about on a first date is religion, politics, and hockey."

"That's safe." Rogue nodded as her friend as he finally sat down.

Remy waved over to their waitress for a last round of shots.

"By the way, Rogue, are you free tomorrow?" Bobby asked while he typed another text into his phone. "There's an apartment I'm interested in seeing. I could use your opinion."

"Sure." Rogue agreed.

"I really like that apartment I saw in the South Loop yesterday." Bobby continued as he kept texting. " It's walking distance to Soldier Field…. so I could have you guys over and we could actually walk over to football games."

"Count me in for any Bears and Saints games." Remy looked at him seriously.

Rogue laughed. "There is only one thing this guy takes seriously in life- and its his Saints."

"Yeah…cool, huh? This one that I want to check out tomorrow sounds a lot smaller, but it's actually a few blocks south from your place. It's in one of the high rises on the beach. Since living with you guys, I think I might miss the beach. So, I think it's totally worth checking out. "

"It's just south of us?Meaning you could still walk over to our place?" Rogue asked in an excited tone.

"Oh, totally." Bobby nodded as he finished his text.

The thought of Bobby finally ending his stay with them felt bittersweet to Rogue. After moving out of a mansion full of teammates, she was in absolute heaven to have an entire house all to herself and Remy. However, Bobby had been such a fun house guest to have around. She knew she was going to miss his company. She really hoped he was going to choose the apartment down the street so they could still see him often.

"Nice! Carly is meeting me down the street for some drinks. We're gonna catch dinner somewhere after that!" Bobby put his phone away.

The waitress came by and passed out their shots.

Bobby raised his shot glass. Rogue and Remy did the same with theirs. " Not to be self-centered…but here's to me. The new Bobby. I can't mope about Lorna anymore. It still sucks, of course…but if I just get my life in order, and let some time pass, I'll be cool. I will feel much better. So, here's to my new apartment….Finding a new job… dating a new girl….having a new life….here's to the new Bobby. Slainte!"

They chugged their shots. With almost lightning speed, Bobby threw down some cash for his tab and ran out of the bar, excited to get some attention from a new girl.

"I think our Bobby is going to be ok." Rogue smiled up at Remy.

"Yeah. Good for him." Remy agreed as he took his last sip of beer. "Should we get out of here?" He flashed her a seductive smile.

"Yeah." Rogue give him a flirty peck on the cheek. " But we're not goin' home yet. This place doesn't have a pool table. You owe me a few games, Cajun."

"Oh, so you wanna play with Gambit?" He looked at her seductively.

"Yeah , playin' with Gambit is always interestin'….we can make it even more interestin' tonight."

"What, you makin' bets now? You know you can't win a bet against me." Remy smiled at the waitress as she put down their check.

"Ah'd like to try." Rogue purred into his ear.

"Ok, what do you have in mind we play for?"

Rogue leaned into his ear and lowered her voice into a sexy tone that made him shiver, " How 'bout we play for sexual favors…?"

Remy accepted her challenge without any hesitation.

* * *

" You are right to suspect him too. " Quicksilver said to his father as the jet prepared for landing. " This is what I think is suspicious- their alibis. Gambit and Rogue have a perfect alibi for where they were on September 5th..  
There is no doubt about it. So, I searched around about what they've been up to socially. It turns out that they've only landed on one other society page before…It was on August 16th."

"…The day my de-ager was stolen." Magneto finished his son's thought.

Quicksilver continued ," Don't you think it's strange that those two are all of the sudden interested in being in society pages? It's like they want that spotlight on purpose."

Magneto was in shock of what his son just told him. That thought had never occurred to him. A feeling of anger began boiling inside him. He didn't want to believe what was being suggested. That meant he would have to admit something horrible to himself- That Gambit could be clever enough to outsmart him. It just couldn't be true.

He never saw Remy LeBeau as threat. If the world were a bunch of insects, Gambit was like a fruit fly. A persistent, but still small and annoying pest that was easy to smash.

"No, son. You can't believe that an uneducated thief raised on the streets could have outsmarted your father, could you? It is just not possible. However, he could be involved, somehow… " Magneto's face lit up with an idea. "Sinister. That's it! He must be working for Sinister again. He's has always been waiting for me to fall so he can take away from me what I've built."

"But Father, I really think-"

"No, son, you listen to me. I want you to keep tabs on Sinister. In fact, call up Xavier and tell him I have reason to believe Gambit is working for him again. Actually, just tell him that we have proof. He will be more enticed to help me find out."

Quicksilver reluctantly nodded.

Magneto's thoughts went to Rogue. He had watched her relationships over the years. All of the men she had been involved with were easy to trample over. This dirty Cajun was no different. Just like the rest, he was no match the superior intellect of Eric Magnus Lensherr.

When the time was right, he was simply going to take Rogue away from him. Gambit had married what belonged to him. It was going to be sweet to wipe that smirk off his face by taking his sweet bride away.

It was going to be fun to punish that sweet little bride too. She was a fool to say no to him when she was younger. That mother of hers, Mystique, was also a fool to make him wait until she was older. He wanted her then. He wanted to be her first. She was so young and open to manipulation.

Magneto's ultimate fetish was power. As a mutant, he wanted complete power over humans in the world. In the bedroom, this translated into his love for dominating women until he broke their will. Breaking a very strong woman like Rogue made it even sexier. She was a challenge, yet a trophy he knew he could win. He couldn't even imagine the sexual satisfaction he'd experience once he had her. It would be like something he had never experienced before.

It would be so easy to break Rogue. He learned from Mystique about all the "daddy issues" she had. He'd just bring back those nightmares. He'd talk down to her like he was her father. After all, he had watched her grow up. He could make her feel like he was actually her father. Maybe he'd beat her if she didn't cooperate.

" Father. IceMan is close." Quicksilver looked up from his tracking device.

"Iceman…" Magneto brought his thoughts back to the other fly he wanted to swat. "Tell the pilot to land."

Down below the jet, the Wrigleyville neighborhood was bustling with its typical Saturday night crowd.

"Really, you haven't been to the Sears Tower yet?" Carly giggled at Bobby as they strolled down Clark Street. "How long have you been in Chicago?"

Bobby smiled as she linked her arm in his. Their date was going incredibly well. They had spent such a long time chatting over drinks, that they forgot about dinner. Lakeview had no shortage of restaurants, so he let the cute Chicago native lead him to her favorite spots.

" About a month and a half. Anyway, we have the Empire State Building back in New York. I've been there a bunch of times."

"The Sears Tower is much taller." Carly bragged.

"Isn't it called the Willis Tower now?"

"Not if you're a Chicago native…" She laughed. "It'll always be the Sears Tower….Hey have you gotten your photo in front of Wrigley Field yet?" She pointed over to the historic baseball stadium they were approaching.

"Eh…. I don't know what my friends back home would say if they saw a photo of me in front of The Cubs' stadium." Bobby teased her.

"Don't worry. It's The Cubs. Everybody here is also afraid of what their friends would say about getting their picture taken in front of their stadium too." Carly laughed out loud. " But it's such a Chicago landmark."

"Aha." Bobby laughed as they came up in front the giant, famous red sign. "Judging by your sarcastic remark, you must be a White Sox fan, huh?"

"Oh, I'm not answering that. I don't like starting wars." She laughed as she pulled Bobby's phone from him and looked for the camera application. "That's like asking you if you're a Mets or Yankees fan in New York…. by the way, which one are you?"

Bobby pulled Carly flirtatiously by the waist and positioned her for a photo with him. "Oh, I'm not answering that."

She laughed back at him and stretched her arm out, preparing to take a photo of the both of them. The ground shook before she could take the photo. She almost dropped Bobby's phone. They both looked around, and noticed a giant truck that had been flung down the street. The Wrigleyville crowd that was enjoying its strolls in the street, had now turned into frightened stampede.

Bobby grabbed Carly close to him.

"Oh my God." She clung to him. "Let's get out of here!"

Bobby quickly looked around , trying to figure out if he should she run with Carly, or stay and fight whatever this was. He decided to get her to safety. "Don't worry, I got you." He said into her ear.

He couldn't believe this was happening. This was one of the reasons he was always so insecure on first dates. It was that slight chance he'd have to reveal that he was a mutant. He led Carly by the hand away from the stadium. He heard her scream as a giant light post was torn from ground and started toppling on them.

Bobby jumped on top of Carly to protect her. She closed her eyes. After not feeling anything squish them, she opened her eyes to an unusual sight. The light post had been encased in ice canopy just above them.

"Bobby…are you…..are you one of those mutants?" She looked at him with fear.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" He held out his hand to her, but she was too afraid of him to take it.

"ROBERT DRAKE!" A loud voice roared. They both looked up at the sky as a figure dressed in red flew over them.

"Magneto!" Bobby shouted back as he pushed Carly behind him to protect her. "What the hell do you want?"

"Bobby, you little cunt…" Magneto slowly lowered himself closer to the ground.

"That's that mad man…I've seen him on t.v.…you know him?" Carly stammered.

"No..I don't …I'm not on his side." Bobby tried to explain, but Carly bolted away as fast she could from the scene.

"You made a big mistake with when you had that asteroid blown up. " Magneto continued. " Do you know why? You blew up a completely empty asteroid. Had you waited another week, when we were going to actually start boarding mutants , you could have blown me up with it…and I wouldn't be killing you right now.…"

"Yeah, well, Captain Kirk and I don't believe in blowing up civilians. We prefer fighting our enemy one on one. Come and get me, Magento! " Bobby stood up tall and changed into his ice form.

Magneto only laughed while keeping his distance. " You insolent, spoiled little brat. It's about time somebody teaches you a lesson about running that mouth of yours. ….nobody disrepects me and gets away with it."

He smiled over at the enormous Wrigley Field sign and used his powers to pull it off the front of the stadium. He smirked at Bobby just as he dropped it above him.

In the blink of an eye, Bobby flew out of the way on his own ice trail and froze the sign just a moment before it fell on top of a panicked crowd.

"Leave these people out of it!" Bobby warned Magneto.

Magneto laughed at the noise of ice cracking behind Bobby.

"Noooooo!" Bobby screamed in horror as he noticed that Quicksilver had ran underneath the sign so fast that it cracked all the ice. He shot a blast of ice as fast as could at a stunned teenage boy just before the sign fell on him.

Just as Bobby let out a sigh of relief, he felt himself get hit in the back by something large and hard. He crashed into the wall of the stadium. As he slowly rolled over on the ground in pain, he realized Magneto had used a car to hit him. He could barely stand up from the pain. He struggled to throw as many ice spikes as he could at Magneto, but they only bounced off of the magnetic force field around him.

"You fucking coward!" Bobby kept struggling to get up. His legs felt numb and paralyzed. "You're pretty tough when you're in your force field and you fight from far away. I dare you to come closer!"

Magneto flew in closer. "This is how it's going to be, Mr. Drake." He ripped a wrought iron gate off the stadium's entrance. " You surrender now, and tell me everything you know about the asteroid. " He flung the gate at Bobby so it pinned him against the stadium wall. "You tell me everything you know, and I won't beat your face with this." Magneto ripped a street light pole out of the ground and hovered it over Bobby. " Tell me now."

Bobby looked up at the evil man in front of him. Of course, he know everything. Rogue and Remy didn't even have to admit it to him. When he came back to Chicago that following morning, he could read it off their faces. He thanked them, and they just laughed. They had spent the last two weeks enjoying watching all the news casts with Magneto infuriated.

"I don't know shit!" He yelled to Magneto.

A few blocks away, Rogue and Remy were just finishing up their last pool game.

"Looks like Ah've got somethin' fun to redeem tonight." Rogue gloated at Remy.

"Yes you do." He shook his head at the fact that he was about to lose. He didn't mind too much. He loved pleasing his Goddess.

"Make your move, Cajun. I ain't got all night." She laughed . She reached into her purse to grab some gum and realized her cell phone was going off . "Hey Bobby?"

A panicked woman's voice responded, "Hi… is this Rogue? Bobby's sister? I'm sorry I didn't know who to call…you were the last outgoing call on his phone."

"Carly?" Rogue asked.

"Yes…How did you know?"

"Carly, Is everything ok?"

"No, some mutant …" Carly started crying. "That evil famous one…he has him…I think he's trying to kill him!"

Rogue motioned for Remy to stop playing. "Remy! Emergency!…Carly, where is he?"

"Wrigley Field!"

Seconds later, Magneto heard a beautiful voice behind him.

"Back away, or Ah'll put you in a coma! "

Magneto turned around to see the object of his desire floating beautifully in front of him. She had her hands extended out in front of her as warning of her absorbing powers.

"Ah, Rogue. It would be my pleasure to be…touched by you…" He smiled. He then took the fence off of Bobby. His unconscious body fell limp to the ground

"Bobby!" Rogue screamed to her friend," What did you to him?"

Magneto then ripped off a metal beam from the top of the stadium and slammed it into Bobby's back.

"Nooo!" Rogue yelled at him. She flew over to him, but before she reach Bobby, Magneto landed in front her.

"I'll only stop if you touch me…..That's right. Come closer to me, my child…. and I'll stop, " Magneto gave her a seductive smile that made her feel completely creeped out. He took down his magnetic force field.

" Try to touch her and see what happens to Papa's boy." Remy yelled at Magneto. He had Quicksilver in a headlock. He had shoved his staff underneath his neck and charged it. He was ready to blow his head off if he had to.

"Pietro!" Magneto yelled. He couldn't believe his son had let himself get caught. "Let him go, you little shit!"

Magneto rushed to aid his son, unaware that he forgotten to put his magnetic force field back up. In a few split seconds, Remy released Quicksilver, shoved him forwards, and threw a handful of cards at Magneto.

Magneto fell to the ground in pain. " My eyes! Son, my eyes!"

Quicksilver ran over to his father. He looked over at Gambit with hate. Rogue was flying towards down him, ready to give him a fast punch in the face. However, Quicksilver was faster at sensing her. He picked up his father and used his super speed to get back to their jet.

Rogue and Remy rushed over to their friend .

"Bobby!" Rogue tried picking him up. " Bobby, can you hear me?" She fought back tears as she discovered all the parts of his body that were bleeding and bruised. Had she not remembered what he had worn that day, she wouldn't even had recognized that this was him. His face looked like that of a zombie. It was black and blue with blood leaking out everywhere.

"Bobby! Say somethin'! " Remy called over to him.

"His pulse is weak." Rogue tried pulling him. "Oh, he's alive….but it's so weak…"

Remy pulled a device out of his back pocket and typed into it.

"Remy, we have to get him help. Oh, God, Remy, this is our fault!" She hugged Bobby's limp body. "It's all our fault….Magneto should have attacked us and not him…Oh God…Bobby, please wake up!"

"I know, Cherie. I'm callin' our jet on remote. We're gonna go take him to help."

"Our jet? No, he needs a hospital ! We gotta get him to one!"

"Oh my God! " Carly screamed from behind them. She threw his cell phone at them and ran the other way.

Rogue shot a death stare into her direction.

"Rogue, please calm down. " Remy spoke slowly to Rogue. "I need you to watch his pulse. Watch his vitals. Any hospital he goes to is going to have drinking through a straw for months…. He needs somethin' stronger…. a healer, not a hospital."

The sound of their jet filled the air above them.

"You mean Tante Mattie?" Rogue looked over at Remy as he controlled the jet's landing into the stadium with his remote device.

"Yes. This is bad…really bad…but she can help him much better than any hospital…..If we kick the jet into full speed we can be there in twenty minutes. Let's go."

"Ok." Rogue stopped herself from shaking from all her tears. She grabbed his cell phone and stuck it in her pocket. She then scooped up her friend's unresponsive body. She flew up above the stadium and landed inside next to the jet.

She placed him inside it gently. " Oh, Bobby, Ah'm so sorry this happened to you…. Hold on for us, Bobby…please hold on…"


	21. Chapter 21

The sound on the television blared with the early evening news.

" Tensions between mutants and humans show no signs of calming down since the destruction of Asteroid M. Two major riots broke out today in Los Angeles and New York, after mutants attacked multiple anti-mutant organizations." The anchor man explained.

Clips of fighting in the streets of both cities were shown.

"When we find out which anti-mutant group destroyed our Asteroid, it won't be pretty." A random mutant spoke into the camera.

"All we wanted was our own home. We would have left this Earth behind for all the humans. " Another mutant spoke, "But you homosapiens, you couldn't even allow us to be separate and equal. You'd rather kill us all off here!"

A large crowd chanted behind the two mutants, "MAGNETO! MAGNETO! MAGNETO!"

The scene changed to an angry man standing in front of Wrigley Field. He yelled into the camera. " There's no way it was an attack from a human. We're sick of mutants! They're always terrorizing us…look at how your Magneto destroyed our stadium! I wish you were all boarding onto a space shuttle that was going hundreds of light years away! We'd finally be left alone. Good riddance!"

"We have yet to hear Magneto address the damages he and an unknown mutant created in Chicago last night during a fight. It is unknown if it had something to do with the destruction of the Asteroid." The anchorman continued. "We have Tamara Thompson live in Ohio, where a large crowd of mutants has gathered in front of Magneto's space station . Tamara, are you there?"

" Yes, I am, Todd." Tamara Thompson looked into the camera," By the looks of this scene here, it is hard to believe that the location of this space station had been a total secret a few weeks ago. Hundreds of mutants are gathered here now, waiting for some sort of appearance from Magneto." She looked over at a mutant next to her. "Sir, can you tell me what has motivated you to stand out here for the last few hours?"

" We look to Magneto as a leader," The mutant responded. "He has done more for us mutants than anybody ever has. We need him now more than ever. We need to hear his voice."

Scarlet Witch lowered the volume off the television to focus on what her father was screaming about.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ADDRESS MY PEOPLE LIKE THIS?" Magneto shoved Dr. Freeman backwards so hard that she almost fell.

"Father!" Scarlet Witch ran over to separate him from his doctor. "You can't push her like that!"

"Mr. Lensherr!" Dr. Freeman exclaimed . "Please calm down. Your blindness is temporary. I don't see any permanent damage. Your eyes are just trying to adjust. It's like having the flash of a camera go off in your eye. Eventually your sight will come back."

" And how long must I wait, Dr. Freeman?" Magneto yelled impatiently.

"I'm not sure, yet. I'm going to guess a few more hours." Dr. Freeman responded.

"I have legions of mutants standing outside. They are waiting to bow down to me and swear their obedience to me. I can't stand before them in this weakened state! We will have to resort to the alternative. Pietro! Where are you? "

"I'm here, Father!" Quicksilver entered the room. " She has just arrived. I've had her read over the speech you dictated to me."

Although he couldn't see Mystique rolling her eyes at him as she entered the room, Magneto could hear the sarcasm in her voice.

" 'And just like Moses' " Mystique read his speech out loud. " ' I have been chosen by God to lead you all to the Promised Land. I am here to demand that the homosapiens let my people go. I will rebuild and we rise from the ashes..' Eric, don't you think this speech is a little too epic?"

"Too epic?" Magneto pounded his fist down. "I do not recall asking you for your opinion . I only recall asking you to do what was asked of you! Now, woman, read me the whole speech, with better diction! And stand up straight, too. I can hear you slouching. I need to appear strong and powerful!"

Mystique let out an annoyed breath. She hated working for Magneto. He only knew how to talk down to the women around him. However, the one thing that meant more to Mystique than her feminist ideals was money. The man always paid her a lot, so she sucked it up and did as he said.

"That was decent. Read it again." Magneto nodded after she finished reciting the speech. " Then we will practice how to answer questions. In particular, if anybody asks about the incident in Chicago, go ahead and name that brat, Robert Drake. Tell them that he attacked me first and I had to defend myself. All my followers need to know is that he opposed me, and they will finish him off for me."

* * *

"All we can do is wait." Remy rubbed Rogue's hand before he kissed it.

Rogue nodded as she watched more women enter the last room at the end of the hall. They were dressed in traditional Haitian robes while carrying exotic candles and Voodoo trinkets . She tried to take a peak at the room, where Bobby had been brought into 24 hours earlier, but Remy put his arm around her.

"No, my Cherie," He whispered in her ear, "I know you want to, but you can't go in there. "

She flashed him a disappointed look.

"I'm sorry, Anna. I know there a lot of things about my family that are still a mystery to you. This is one of them. Never barge in on Tante Mattie when she's healin'. It breaks their concentration. Bobby's in good hands. " He brushed a strand of hair back from her eyes. " I promise, my Chere." He kissed her forehead.

"Remy… " She buried her face into his shoulder. "Ah just feel so bad. Bobby's been our only friend…our only friend from the X-men…an' we got him into this mess…maybe we should have kept him the dark…maybe we should have pushed him away . We should have never let him stay with us. "

"Anna, " Remy looked into her face, "Let's go downstairs and sit down, ok? I think we both could use a quick rest since last night." He took her hand and led her down the grand staircase, that was framed with an elaborate and typical New Orleans-style wrought iron banister. The living room they entered was large, yet cozy at the same time. Remy pulled her down onto the couch with him.

Rogue cuddled up to his warm body while he squeezed her tight. She sighed as she looked around the room. There was something about the warm colors and Southern charm in Jean-Luc's mansion that always made her feel like she was at home.

"My Cherie," Remy spoke into Rogue's ear, "I'm a wreck about this too. …but we gotta stay positive. None of us could have expected that mad man to do this." He rubbed her back and they both stayed silent for a long time until Remy grabbed the remote control for the television. "How 'bout we get our mind off of everythin'?"

Rogue nodded as he turned the T.V. on. They both let out a breath of frustration when Remy reached the news.

"Uh,,,yeah, that's one thing we didn't think through did we, Sugah..?" Rogue shook her head at the news anchor who was reporting on all the mutant and human riots. "Oh Remy… Ah feel so guilty….First 'bout Bobby…an' now 'bout all those mutants out there. We're responsible for these riots …..What if we made Magneto more powerful…?"

Remy stayed silent as he didn't want to admit that he had the same fear. He frowned at the T.V. as a clip of the X-men came on.

The news anchor reported on how the team had intervened and put an end to both riots.

For the first time since they had left the team, Rogue felt a pang of guilt about not fighting alongside them.

Remy could feel her shift uncomfortably. He turned the T.V. off and looked into her anxious face.

"What have we done?" Rogue shook her head and looked down at the floor. "We used to ….we used to be the peacekeepers..an' now we're the cause of all this. Ah feel so guilty."

"Guilty?" Remy pulled her face up with his hand so she would have to look into his eyes. " I told you before, my Anna, that I would do a lot of terrible, terrible things for you….but it sounds like …you are havin' regrets 'bout all this?"

Rogue didn't answer. The silence between the two of them became very long and uncomfortable. It was finally broken by Tante Mattie's footsteps.

Rogue stood up and met her in a hug. Remy rose as well, and also received a tight embrace.

"Congratulations." She smiled at them.

"Excuse me?" Rogue raised her eyebrow.

"On your marriage, ma petite." Tante Mattie sat down in between them on the couch. " I haven't seen you two in person since your weddin' and I was too buys all day upstairs. " She grabbed Rogue's hand and then looked over her shoulder at Remy. " You've given me such a beautiful and wonderful daughter -in- law. "

Rogue laughed to herself as Tante Mattie patted her cheek. The woman had a wonderful power of spreading warmth and a sense of healing by a simple touch. Rogue honestly believed that this is who had taught Remy on how to become such a compassionate person.

"I been waitin' a long time for you to be a part of the LeBeau family. Welcome. You are so special to us…an' we are gonna take care of you. "

Rogue smiled back at her.

"Remy," Tante Mattie grabbed Remy's hand and looked at him, " I am so happy for you, my boy. You are gonna be so happy, an' I am so glad I won't have to worry 'bout you no more."

Remy laughed. " You sure you still shouldn't be worryin' 'bout me? Just 'cause I'm married don't mean I still can't get into trouble. I'm still Remy LeBeau."

Tante Mattie pushed his arm in a playful way. "Boy, you are never gonna change are you?" She looked over at Rogue, "Listen here, you two. Your friend up dere. He's in bad shape, but he's gonna pull through. We put him in a deep sleep 'till his body heals. So, he won't be feelin' no pain. It's just all up to him 'bout when he wakes up. "

Both Remy and Rogue let out a sigh of relief.

"Can we see him?" Rogue asked.

"Not yet. Maybe not till the mornin' We need to do our work over him through another night." Tante Mattie smiled at them. "You two stayin' another night wit' us?"

Remy looked at her. " We were thinkin' 'bout it. We just wanna make sure he's ok. But we can walk back to my apartment if it's too much trouble. "

"If it's too much trouble?" Tante Mattie laughed, "Boy, what kind of joke you makin'? I'm not gonna repeat dat one to your father. All dat man ever does 'round here is talk 'bout his son day and night to everybody…an' you come 'round here and t'ink you have to ask dat question?"

"What's de question?" Jean-Luc entered the living room.

Tante Mattie smiled at him , "Your son was shy 'bout askin' if he can stay here wit' his wife tonight."

Jean- Luc chuckled, "Dis will always be your home , Remy." He then walked over to over to Rogue. "Now, it's your home too."

Rogue stood up and accepted his warm hug. He took her hand and kissed it. "Welcome to de LeBeau family. It's gonna be one hell of ride."

Remy let out a loud laugh.

"Thank you, Jean-Luc. " Rogue smiled at him. " Ah've been warned 'bout the family. "

" 'An you still wanted to become a part of it? " Jean-Luc gave her a warm smile, " Remy, you really did find me a special daughter-in-law. "

Remy laughed while Rogue looked around at everybody in the room. There was such a warm feeling in the room. It was almost like a positive aura, and it was making her feel so happy. It was making her forget about all her worries. Receiving this welcoming embrace from Jean-Luc made her feel like she had just been inducted into some sort of secret society.

" Ah just wanna let everybody in this room know that becoming a part of this family… " Rogue spoke. "Well, it's like bein' accepted into somethin' special that Ah've always been lookin' for…. but Ah never knew what it was or how to find it. Jean- Luc…Tante Mattie, your son is so special to me,,,an' Ah promise Ah'm gonna take care of him."

Remy gave her a tender kiss on the side of her temple while Tante Mattie squeezed her hand.

Jean-Luc nodded at Rogue. "Welcome home, Anna."

Remy then stood up to shake hands with his father, but Jean-Luc pulled him into an embrace. "Congratulations, my son. De way you look at her, it's de way I used to look at my wife. Treat her right. She's a good one."

Remy nodded while Jean-Luc walked over to the liquor cabinet. He began pulling out glasses.

" I gotta get goin'." Tante Mattie rose from the couch. " I got more work to do wit my girls up dere tonight."

"Thank you, Tante Mattie." Remy nodded.

"One last t'ing I'd like to say before I go …. Remy, I've raised you like my own son since you were ten. I always tried to keep you outta trouble…which was nearly impossible wit' dat love for mischief you got."

Remy and Jean-Luc both laughed.

"But, you an' your wife here…You gotta do somethin'. You two have to find a way to stop dat man, Magneto. He's evil. He's got bad plans for dis world, and dey involve more dan just tryin to kill your kill your friend upstairs. We've seen his future in our cards ." Tante Mattie pulled out a jewelry box from a desk.

"You've seen a prediction 'bout his future too?" Rogue asked anxiously.

"Yes, we have too. I'm sure everybody has around de world has. But, nobody has de courage to stop him. But, my son here, he has never been afraid of no one or nothin'. Not even death. An' he's found himself a very special wife who is as brave as he is. "

"When death laughs at you in de face. De only 'ting to do, is laugh back." Remy said seriously.

Rogue smiled at her husband's accent that had suddenly thickened before playfully shoving his arm. "Remy, you stole that line from 'Gladiator.' I heard you an' Bobby watchin' it the other day."

"Ey!" Remy laughed, "I was just tryin' to keep up wit' Tante Mattie's dramatic speech."

Tante Mattie shook her head and walked over to Rogue with the jewelry box. " De prediction we saw tells of de end of de world. Dat man steals a woman away into a place in de sky and he forces her to have his son against her own will. You two have destroyed his place in de sky…."

"Tante Mattie, we didn't destroy his Aster- " Remy lied ,but was interrupted.

"I know it was you two. Only you two have de type of courage to stand up to him. Dat t'ing was a prison. He was gonna turn everybody on board into his slave soldiers …he could only do dat in de asteroid, where his powers were gonna be concentrated and more powerful. He was gonna lead all his soldiers to come down years later to destroy de humans left behind here. He was gonna end dis world de way we know it."

"Anna, my Douce*,( *sweet*) this is for you. " Tante Mattie handed her a charm on a gold chain. " I don't own a lot of fancy t'ings and I've been holdin' onto dis for a long time… I found it when I was a little girl in Haiti, just before I came to New Orleans. I want you to have it….it's my weddin' gift to you. "

"Tante Mattie, you don't have to give me anythin' " Rogue was very touched. She looked down at the exotic gold charm. It was of a woman holding a small child. She had two scars on her face.

" No, no. I want you to have it. Dis is Erzulie Dantor. She's de Voodoo Goddess of protection and …vengeance. Dat is her child she holdin'. She is known to protect de people she loves at any cost…. Dose scars she got are from her own people who have betrayed her."

Rogue let out a breath and ran her fingers over the scars on the Goddess's face.

Tante Mattie continued. " You two got a tough mission ahead of you. T'ink of her energy when you need it. T'ink about how dere is somebody out dere on your side an' she be watchin' over you."

"Tante Mattie." Rogue hugged her, " Thank you. "

Remy's grin grew bigger as he watched the woman who raised him and the woman he loved embrace. He didn't remember Tante Mattie ever giving his ex-wife, Belladonna, any wedding gifts. She had felt a connection with Rogue since the first time she had met her. Watching the smile Tante Mattie's face as she looked at Rogue, made him happy that he was able to finally unite them as a family.

"G'night. Get some sleep, everybody." Tante Mattie exited the room as everybody nodded at her.

Jean-Luc passed out two glasses of scotch to Remy and Rogue. "Remy… I've never apologized to you for dis… Your first marriage, we all pushed it on you….I forced it on you. I put what was good for de Guild before what was right for you. I'm sorry."

Remy's face froze in shock. Even though his father had started acknowledging his faults over the last the year of their relationship, apologies like these were still a surprise to him. He didn't know what to say, but it meant a lot to him. "It was a long time ago, Dad. Dere's nothin' to worry 'bout now."

"I'm glad you were able to overcome my mistake an' find yourself happiness. " Jean-Luc looked over at Rogue. He raised his glass and beckoned the two of them to join him in a toast. " To Remy and Anna LeBeau on their marriage. To long years of happiness."

They all clinked glasses and sipped their scotch.

"Mmm… which one is dis one?" Remy smiled at the taste of the scotch.

"Highland Park 1980." Jean-Luc bragged.

"You'd better hide this from our friend, Bobby, up dere . In case he wakes up. He busted into my 1968 Glen

Grant. "

Jean-Luc laughed, "So, what's dis Bobby's story? He an X-man?"

"Yeah, he WAS an X-man. Actually, Dad, he's dat accountant I mentioned…."

"Really? De good accountant?" Jean-Luc raised his eyebrow.

"By 'good', you mean de kind dat might look away on a few t'ings?….maybe. I didn't have a chance to ask him yet…but I know he's lookin for a job." Remy took another sip.

"Wait…is the Thieves Guild lookin' for an accountant?" Rogue sat up.

"Sort of,…the LeBeau family might be…for a project…." Jean-Luc responded mysteriously. He walked over to pull out a box of cigars

"It's been a long time since we've had a scotch and cigar night." Remy smiled at his father. "Is dis really dat special of an occasion?"

"Sometimes when t'ings are real bad, you gotta just slow down, drink some scotch, smoke a cigar an' t'ink 'bout how it's all gonna be ok." Jean Luc passed out three cigars.

"Ah think Ah've heard Remy say that same exact line!" Rogue smiled.

All three of them laughed. They spent the next few hours chatting, and Rogue admired how Remy and his father were bonding. Sometimes, she wished her relationship with her own father or Mystique could have been turned around like theirs.

She could have easily stayed up longer with the two men. Since leaving the X-men , and not having to be on such strict schedules, she and Remy had become quite the night owls. However, she decided to let the father and son enjoy each other's company alone, and retired upstairs to the guest bedroom.

The big bed looked so comfortable and Rogue wasted little time stripping down and getting comfortable in it. She woke up two hours later when she felt Remy shifting next to her.

He planted a kiss on her cheek. "Anna, what you were sayin' earlier…'bout you finally bein' a part of somethin' you've been lookin' for….That was so sweet of you to say that."

"Ah meant it." Rogue responded in a sleepy voice.

Remy squeezed her.

"What is it, Remy?"

"Anna, I never felt like any of what I ever gave you was enough. I'm so glad you feel that way, because that's what I've always to give you. ….I wanted to give you a home. I wanted to give you a place to belong…."

"Home is wherever I'm alone with you.." Rogue sang to him softly.

* * *

"Things are not ok, Professor. Bobby can't talk. He's still unconscious… Magneto almost killed him…" Rogue spoke into Bobby's cell. Its ringing had woken her up the next morning.

"That can't be true." The Professor responded in disbelief.

"What do you mean? We saw it! If we hadn't shown up, Bobby would have been dead for sure."

"Rogue, I wanted to find a way to contact you, actually. You are mixed up in something that I don't think you deserve to be. ….I want you to know that you can come back here. This is always a home for you." The Professor's voice was serious.

"What are you talkin' 'bout? "

" Whatever it is that Gambit is involved with, it is not good for you.."

"What? Professor, we were just talkin' 'bout Bobby,…why are you changing' the subject?"

"Bobby's a lost cause. He didn't deserve that, but he's been warned about Magneto's temper."

"Professor!" Rogue cried, "How could you be so heartless?"

"Rogue, think about your surroundings. Think about the people around you and what may be happening. '

She could feel him trying to scan her mind. She quickly pushed him out. It was a trick Remy had taught her recently.

"Rogue, I have reason to believe that Gambit is involved with Sinister. You are in harm."

'You think he's involved with Sinister? He's not! Ah can't believe that after all he an' Ah went through with the team not trustin' us…you'd still think that? What are you basin' this on?"

"Someone has voiced it as a suspicion to me."

"Who? Who do you have spyin on us now? Huh? Y'all mad that you couldn't turn Bobby into one?"

"I'm just warning you, Rogue."

" Professor, Ah know that Remy is not workin' for Sinister."

"How can you be sure?"

" Ah'm his wife."

"Rogue, that doesn't mean anything. He could be lying to you…and this marriage…don't you think he rushed you into it? You have only been away for a few months. He could have done it to manipulate you. "

"No! Ah rushed him!" Rogue was in shock.

"Or is that what he made you think? Just because you played house with each other for the Summer doesn't mean  
you know anything about being prepared for a marriage."

Rogue gasped.

"Rogue, you are still young and naïve. " The Professor continued. " You and I both know how you have not yet learned how to overcome being manipulated. "

"Professor, Ah don't deserve to be spoken to like this. You are talkin' to me like Ah'm a child. Ah'm a grown woman an' Ah didn't ask you for your advice on mah life choices. " Rogue could feel somebody in the room with her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Remy in the doorway with a concerned look on his face. He had just come back from bringing some spare clothes from his apartment.

He whispered to her, "The Professor?"

She nodded at him.

An annoyed expression replaced his concerned look as he walked up next to her.

Rogue frowned into the phone "What do you know 'bout marriage anyway? It's not like you've ever been in one. You're preachin' bout somethin' you have no clue 'bout." She could hear The Professor yell her name angrily as she pulled the phone away from her ear.

"Can I talk to him?" Remy asked.

She handed over the phone to him without saying any more to The Professor.

" Charles? Do you wanna explain why you called? Was it to make Rogue upset on purpose?….Then why did you call?…..Let me get this straight. You called to chastise Bobby for his behavior? You think he deserved to be nearly killed for some jokes he made? Some jokes at a man who more than deserved it?…Oh he egged him on, is that what you're sayin' ?….No? …..…Then what?…. Can I ask you why you think that Bobby should have shut it, while it was ok for Old Magsy to call my wife a child?….…Oh, you read his mind, huh?… Well, you cracked it, Charlie. Yes, that man's after my wife. And you don't think his thoughts are disgustin'? The way he sees her as a child and still wants to go after my wife?…..Then if you agree it's disturbin', why aren't you doin' anythin' bout it?"

Rogue watched as the fire inside Remy grew.

"You listen here, Charles, people like Bobby an' me makin' Mags angry are not a part of the problem….. You are a part of the problem. People like you, are the reason that Magneto gets away with everything he does. You fear him ….so you pacify him…You're not? ….Yes I think you are…..You know exactly what I'm hinting at…I think you're protectin' him because you always do. You've always stopped the X-men from ever attackin' him offensively. It's always been only out of defense…. You listen here 'bout what I think 'bout your whole idea of peace on this planet: It's a nice little fantasy. I live by the quote that in order to make to peace, you gotta prepare for war."

Remy pounded his fist down on the nightstand the table so hard that he nearly broke it. Rogue looked at him anxiously trying to figure out what words made him react that way.

"Don't you ever compare me to Magneto again. " Remy cooled his voice. " That is NOT what I was sayin' at all. I'm not evil like him….Do you know what I am? I'm that gray area in between that black and white world the both of you chose to live in….You, with your pacifist look on the world… and Mags with all his feelings of entitlement to terrorism. You both forget that the gray area in between is huge and it's there to keep the both of you in line….How is that a threat?"

Rogue rubbed Remy's clenched fist to clam him down. He opened it slightly to her soft touch and breathed out.

" Ok, whatever, I've had it up there with you, Charlie. I know you're protectin' Magneto…an' when I find out how, you're gonna look just as evil as he is. So, I suggest you start thinkin' 'bout if stickin' by your plan of pacifyin' him is really worth it. As for Bobby, we'll let him know you called, that is , if he wakes up any time this century…..an' don't you ever make Rogue upset again. We left that hell hole mansion of yours for a reason!"

With that, Remy threw the phone across the room. He breathed heavily as he looked at the pieces of it on the floor.  
Rogue put her hand over his heart. It was racing with anger. He took a deep breath and put his hand over hers. He could feel her warmth calming him down. " I shouldn't have thrown that…I'll have to get Bobby a new phone."

"It's ok, Sugah." She smiled at him. "You've got a reason to be on edge….You want this all to be over like Ah do. If it means anythin', Ah've got a funny feelin' 'bout the Professor too…somethin' isn't right."

Remy sat down on the bad and looked at her. "You an' I , we gotta have a serious talk….. 'bout our next step. "

"Ah know…Our next step with Magneto…." Rogue played with Remy's hair as she looked into his face.

"You still in? Still in on the plan?" Remy asked her seriously.

Rogue took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. "Yes, Ah am. Rem, Ah know Ah said that Ah felt guilty earlier….but Ah've been thinkin' 'bout everythin'….an' this really is a whole big mess. It's complicated. It's like Tante Mattie said, nobody has the courage to stand up to him. If somebody like The Professor , who Magsy says he respects, is too afraid to stand up to him, then Ah truly believe that nobody ever will. We gotta do it."

"He can't get away with what he did to our friend. We gotta keep on with the mission….before he hurts more people." Remy leaned into Rogue and kissed her forehead. " Anna, did you sleep ok? Maybe you should sleep in a little more? You'll be no help to Bobby if you don't get any rest. " He twirled her curls in his fingers.

Rogue yawned and nodded. She pulled her husband down on the bed with her. They exchanged a few kisses. "You're right, we'll be no good to Bobby if we don't any rest. " She then shut up in bed abruptly. "BOBBY!" That's it, Bobby!"

"What are you talkin' 'bout, Chere?" Remy sat up next to her.

"All that talk 'bout Bobby bein' an accountant last night gave me an idea!" Rogue looked over at Remy. " I know how we can get all this heat off of Bobby an' us AND get back at Magneto real good!"

Remy raised his eyebrow at his wife. He had never heard her laugh like this before. It was a deep and mischievous laugh . The glimmer in her eyes was incredibly sexy.

"Remy, remember how you an' Ah. talked about possibly goin' after his money before? We were talkin' bout makin' him poor as hell so he wouldn't have the resources to fund all his terrible projects?"

" Yeah,….so are we still robbin' him?" Remy smiled at Rogue's excited face.

"Yeah… we're gonna do it….but we're not gonna take away all his money. We don't have to make him poor… we just have to take away just enough….This one is for Bobby…" She paused to smile deviously at Remy before she continued to propose her plan to him.


End file.
